


He Sees Me for Me

by Karlarado



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Daddy!Derek, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Like, M/M, Pining, Stiles is blind and Derek has an adopted daughter and I am hoping it'll rip your heart out, That's right, This fic will hopefully have everything, and plenty of, bilingual!derek, blind!Stiles, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-10
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-01-18 20:40:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1442125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karlarado/pseuds/Karlarado
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek and his adopted daughter move to Beacon Hills to try and start up a normal life. They meet Stiles in a park with his service/seeing-eye dog and while Malia bonds with the dog, Derek ends up bonding with Stiles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Best is Yet to Be

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tullycat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tullycat/gifts).



> My first Sterek fic! WOO!
> 
> Beta'd by the lovely tullycat who was gracious enough to correct my tenses.  
> She also gave me the prompt for this, so, really she is lovely.
> 
> ALSO the chapter title is from John Lennon's "Grow Old With Me"...which is actually about my favorite poem Rabbi Ben Ezra. (I'm educating you on important stuff here.)

It’s 1:38 in the afternoon when they arrive in front of their new home, but the time  
doesn’t make a difference to Malia, who is very comfortably passed out in the back seats. Derek isn’t looking forward to waking her. Not that she’s fussy when she is woken up, but he’s still not sure if the whole moving thing would be the best of ideas for her. 

Beacon Hills is halfway across the state from where they used to live - that is, up until very early this morning when Derek finally strapped Malia into the back seat and began to follow the moving truck north. Malia’s last year at school, her first year too, actually, went as poorly as possible. All of the kids there knew about the accident, and some even knew about Peter. And for some reason beyond Derek’s comprehension, none of the parents thought to tell their kids to not bring it up to Malia. Every. Other. Day. Hell, half of the parents thought it was alright to talk to Derek about it at after-school pick-ups or PTA meetings, too. It’s like everyone in the town was some insensitive asshole with equally insensitive children. So when Malia started getting picked on for her timid behavior, and when Derek realized there was nothing left in the town for him or her, he decided they would move once she finished kindergarten. She had been out of school for about a week, and during that week constantly climbed up Derek in excitement about moving away. She seemed happy enough, but Derek couldn’t help feeling bad about taking her away from everything she had grown to know, and selfishly, everything he had called his home.

Derek decided that they needed to move far enough that the news stories and scandal would not be able to reach them, but close enough that they could still call California their home. Beacon Hills seemed like a beacon of hope when Derek was looking for places to move. Most importantly, there was an opening in the Spanish department at the local college to which Derek eagerly applied. He wanted a job in town so that he wouldn’t need a nanny due to some long commute…or so that he could pick up Malia from school in a hurry in case she was getting bullied or had a panic attack…but he told himself it was mostly the first reason. It wasn’t as prestigious as the university he was working at before, but it paid well enough and he figured that if he could land that teaching position so fresh out of school, he would definitely get the new job with some experience behind him. And he did. 

The fire and police departments were award winning if anything, and he knew that that type of recognition would help make him and his little girl finally feel at ease. Animal attacks were a bit higher than the national average, but everything else about Beacon Hills was safe, and they needed that. The local schools had good funding and test scores, not that Malia’s last school didn’t, but this school district was filled with new and hopefully more respectful children, which was all Derek cared about. There were children’s parks, there were bike lanes, and there were picket fences. This city seemed like one that Derek dreamed about living in years ago before his life was filled upside-down, so, essentially, it was perfect.

The house they are now parked in front of also seems perfect. It is a smaller but still decently sized folk Victorian style home sitting on almost an acre of land, which is a score for California. It’s actually a relief to look at, coming from the stucco homes that plagued their previous city. This house seems a lot homier and natural to Derek, and thankfully the seller was looking to move quickly because of a job offering, so it was well within his price range. Malia had been begging for a puppy since the moment he told her they would be moving, and now that he’s sitting in front of the house and looking at the grass and secure fence, he’s seriously considering it. This is the type of home you expect to find a puppy at. His car, on the other hand, strikes a high contrast to the scene. He hopes his neighbors won’t get the wrong idea about him from the jet black Camaro he arrived in. It isn’t the most conventional, but he likes it, and Malia likes it, so that’s all that mattered. 

Looking back into the rear seats he can see Malia starting to wake, probably aware that they were no longer moving. “Hey angel,” he says in a hushed tone, “We’re home.”

He swears he has never seen her get up as quickly as she did just then. “Really?! Already?!” She pokes her head up so she can see out of the back window, eyes wide as she takes in the house they parked in front of. “Daddy! It’s so big! And there’s so much grass! Way more than the picture you showed me.” 

It stills hasn’t completely sunk in that Malia is going to be calling him “dad” for the rest of her life, and it startles him just a little bit more when she calls him daddy in such an adorable way. She was his uncle’s daughter, one he didn’t particularly care for, before she was Derek’s. It’s been a little over 5 years since the main accident and a little over 3 since the accident with Peter, so Derek really is all she knows. Unlike most parents, though, he didn’t have any time to mentally prepare to be a dad; parenthood was just thrust upon him one day in the form of a 16 pound Malia. 

Now, the 6 year old and 50 pound Malia is looking up at Derek with a confused face. “The picture had less grass, why didn’t you tell me the yard was gonna be so big? Is it cuz of the puppy? Cuz I still want a puppy! ‘Specially with all-oveda grass!”

More responsibilities being thrust upon him, it looks like. “That picture was taken years ago Lia, and I’ll think about getting you a puppy soon, alright?” He knows there is no getting around her adorable little face, and the home could probably use another presence anyway. “Alright!” shouts the tiny form in the back. “Can we go in and see it now? Please?”  
“Of course we can, kiddo, you get unbuckled and I’ll open your door.” She was beaming. Maybe the decision to move was the right one.

Somehow they made it to the house before the moving truck, so Derek lets Malia take her time as they walked up the drive and to the front of the house. She wants to stop at every rock and flower that she sees, so it seems like eternity, but he wants her happy so Derek takes as small of steps as he can. 

Luckily both Derek and the moving guys had keys, so he is able to unlock the front door when they finally reach it. The foyer is nice with wood floors and a high ceiling to compensate for the staircase that appears before his left. Malia is exclaiming how perfect the house was from this one room alone, but Derek wants to look around a bit more before he says anything about being in love with it. 

They do a lot of looking around, some of the time with Malia crawling around on the floor, some of the time with her on Derek’s shoulders so that he can keep her more in control. They have decided which room would be theirs when a yell comes from downstairs. Malia almost trips down the stairs in excitement before Derek scoops her up and carries her. There are four men in the van, and honestly neither Derek nor Malia own all that much, so the unloading doesn’t take more than 5 hours. Derek had sent over quite a few nonessential items the week previous, which he found in the large living room at the front of the house when they first came in. 

At five ‘til seven Derek is tipping the men and they then pull away. He had packed a lunch for Malia, which she ate around 2:30, but his brain had been too scattered to prepare anything for himself. The two of them drive out to the nearest fast-food the GPS produced for dinner, eat on the kitchen table out of the boxes, and proceed to make up their beds. Well, Derek mostly does all of the work as Malia watches, but the work got done while they were together, so it still counts. By 8:30 Malia is completely out, and Derek isn’t far off from it himself. He eventually finds his way into sleep, avoiding all of the questions and worries he has buzzing in his head about what’s going to happen from that point on.

About how different his and Lia’s lives are going to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an intro to Derek's set up. Do not fret, Stiles arrives in the next chapter. I ship this ship harder each day, so I will be sure to write plenty of it.
> 
> The obligatory tumblr reference: Find me at karlarado.tumblr.com!


	2. Now Show Me How to Live Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stiles makes his first (and so so not last) appearance! Woo!  
> Still beta'd by tullycat. Her grammar is the reason the earth spins. 
> 
> Chapter title is from [Fever](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZZUY32iCzU) by The Black Keys because I am fracking pumped for that album and you should be, too! Making Ohio so proud...

It has been a full week since their first day in Beacon Hills, and Derek can say he feels they are completely moved in. All of the dishes are in their place, the photos on their proper walls, and the clothes in their dressers. Yesterday he was _finally_ able to make him and Malia a big “house warming” dinner with the groceries they had bought on their second day. She isn’t any bigger than the average six-year old, but Lia could eat for days on end, and she especially loves Derek’s nice homemade meals. Taking all of that into account, Derek looks around the house and realizes that it is actually his home; that the move happened in reality and not just his mind. What is the most shocking to him, is that it is starting to feel like home…sort of.

Malia is sitting next to him on the couch in their front room, relaxing now that settling in is over. Derek had put down the book he was reading when he began thinking about the house, and now as he looks over towards her, he notices her coloring is starting to slow down. They _have_ been cooped up in the house for the last week, apart from the groceries, and that is when the idea hits him. “Lia?”

“Yeah?!” she says as if she had been anxiously waiting for a distraction from her crayons.

“How does a trip to the park sound to you?”

xxx

There are, apparently, twelve parks within a thirty mile radius of their house, as Derek finds during his quick Google search. He knew there were a lot of parks from when he first researched the area, but this just feels like overkill. They end up picking the second biggest park – which is a fifteen minute walk away from their address – and head out the door.

The walk starts with Lia holding onto Derek’s hand but she is pulling him so hard that he puts her up on his shoulders. When they meet the border of grass to mulch at the park, he lets her down…which is a mistake.

Instead of using her built-up energy to run to the swings or monkey-bars – like the well behaved child Derek thinks she is – Malia runs over to a man with a dog about fifty feet to their right. Derek spots the “guide dog” vest almost immediately and runs quickly after her, but she’s already speaking to the man.

“’Scuse me, sir, can I please pet your dog?”

Practically before the sentence is finished, Derek is picking her up from behind and apologizing. “I’m sorry, sir. Malia, this is a special type of dog that you’re not supposed to pet, alright?” He looks down at the man now, who is surprisingly smirking at the situation. “Really I am sorry if we disturbed you, my uhm…daughter hasn’t seen a service dog before and I never really went over the proper-”

“It’s alright, you don’t need to keep apologizing” he says between small laughs. “Of course you can pet my dog – Malia, right?”

“Yes! But my daddy sometimes calls me Lia for short.”

A bigger laugh comes this time. “That’s a great nickname then, Lia. You can pet my dog but, can I ask you a quick favor first?” Her little head nods anxiously. “No more running away from your daddy and going up to strangers, ohkay?” The man flashes a smile in Derek’s general direction, not getting his height exactly right.

Crap. Right, stranger danger. That’s probably what Derek should be more worried about at the moment than teaching Malia the role of service dogs… “The man makes a good point, Lia, I don’t like you taking off like that. No more going up to strangers unless I’m with you.”

Sudden realization flashes across her face. Derek should have known this would happen when she came home from [Safety Town](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_Town) with a blue mouth after failing the ‘candy test.’ “Oh, I’m sorry daddy, I’m sorry mister. I promise not to anymore.”

“In that case, have your dad put you back down, if that’s alright with him.”

Derek is trying to mentally justify her actions. He took the candy from a “stranger” when he was in Safety Town and he didn’t end up dead. He’ll just need to give her a talk later. A couple seconds _after_ he should have responded, he realizes the need to answer. “Oh, yeah sorry of course. Down we go.” As soon as her feet meet the ground she instinctively sticks her little hand out to the dog’s nose, lets her sniff her, and starts to pet her head.

The man pats the bench seat next to him lightly. “You can sit down if you’d like, _dad_ ” with extra smugness placed on the “dad.” 

“Thanks. And it’s Derek, by the way. Derek Hale. You’ve already met Malia.” The bench is surprisingly comfortable. “And you are?”

Another loud laugh. He’s really chipper for someone who’s – no Derek’s not going to think like that. “I’m not gonna watch you struggle over my first name, well, listen to you struggle, but my last name is Stilinski. Most people just call me Stiles.”

“Stiles…?”

“You’re gonna have to trust me; it’s more ordinary than my first name.”

He doubts this, but Derek doesn’t press the matter. “Alright then, Stiles it is. Nice to meet you.” He unconsciously reaches out to shake hands, but stops halfway through the motion. On cue, Stiles extends his hand out towards Derek, which he gladly grabs hold of.

Mentally, Derek is beating himself up for being so hypersensitive of Stiles’ blindness. He’d dealt with disability and sickness and so many other things for years when Peter was around, nothing is new to him about this. He can’t grasp why he’s feeling so nervous now.

A cute, high pitched voice comes from below them: “What’s your dog’s name, Mr. Stiles?”

“It’s just Stiles, Lia, I’m not old or important enough to be a “Mister.” And her name is Starbuck.”

That piques her interest. “Like the coffee?”

“Ha, no like the amazing character from Battlestar Galactica! BSG, classic Sci-Fi. I can feel you staring at me, Derek; no it’s not lame.”

He’s sitting next to a geek. Not a Latin American studies type of geek, but a Sci-Fi one. Derek feels a bit out of his depths but tried to roll with it. “Did you rename her that when you got her or are you that nerdy that you looked for a dog with the name?”

“Oh, no my dad trained her for me when she was a puppy so I was able to name her. I’m told she’s blonde, and Kara Thrace is blonde. It made sense.”

Stiles straightens up in his seat a bit more. For some reason Derek seems hyperaware of Stiles in general and not just his blindness. “So, to switch the subject off of me being a nerd…where are you two from?” 

“We’re from here. Wait, why didn’t you think we were from here?”

“I grew up in Beacon Hills, and I’ve met pretty much everyone. Plus I think I’d remember hearing that voice…that sounds weird, you just have a distinctive voice.”

And now he’s flustered. Why, the fuck, is he flustered. Nothing about being blind should be making him flustered. Derek tries to move past that last sentence and stick to the conversation. “You caught us. We, uh, just moved here last week from southern California.”

“Daddy? Can I go play on the monkey-bars now? It’s not too far away and I promise not to talk to any more strangers.” As Malia stands up Derek notices that she’s covered in dog hair. Maybe he’ll hold off on getting her that puppy.

“Yeah sure Malia go right ahead. But remember you can talk to the other kids if you’re feeling up to it, ok?”

It takes her a minute to reply, and even then it sounds half-hearted: “Maybe.”

“Lia, we talked about this, go have fun. Don’t be scared.” He knows she’ll probably just play on the bars by herself, but for now he’s got to at least try to motivate her.

As timidly as Derek thinks is possible, she says “ok” and turns her back to run off.

Once Malia is a distance away and the silence has turned noticeable Stiles asks another question. “So…what brought you up to Beacon Hills?” Derek is trying to formulate a reasonable answer when Stiles speaks again, much faster than before. “I’m sorry was that invasive? That was invasive. I’ll make up a reason for you: You couldn’t stand the local music stations. You woke up one day and realized you were tired of listening to the ‘24 hour Lobamba’ station and high-tailed it up here.” There’s another sizable pause as Derek thinks of how to respond to that. “Sorry I ramble a bit when I’m out of my depths.” Stiles adds in quickly.

“No no it’s fine. I uh, actually don’t really listen to the radio, or too much music really, so that’s the worst fake reason you could have come up with.” 

That definitely dragged Stiles out of the awkward hole he had dug himself in. Although now to Derek he is just awkwardly spazzing out. “You’re kidding me, right? Like, you’re completely lying to me. How is that possible?! Are you human?? What do you do when you’re trying to avoid your work or doing the dishes?”

He definitely wasn’t expecting this energized of a reaction, and isn’t sure if he is supposed to be offended by it. “Well I actually _like_ my job and doing the dishes, so I don’t really need a distraction.”

“Oh god, you sound so perfect and cheery, it’s disturbing, really. Does this mean you don’t have like, a favorite music artist, too? Because I’m going to be so disappointed in you if you don’t.”

“I mean I listen to classical stuff in my office sometimes, and I do actually listen to some Latin music thank you very much, but no, I guess I’m going to have to disappoint you.” Derek does listen to _quite_ a bit of Latin American music; he even taught a whole course on it at his old facility, but he feels like saying that won’t impress Stiles or help his case.

“Oh my GOD how do you live? I can’t believe I’m even sitting on the same bench as you right now. Can you see my face? Because I can’t and I hope it looks as shocked as I feel.”

There’s a loud buzzing and what Derek identifies as rock music coming from Stiles’ pocket before he can respond to that. 

“Oh, sorry, my alarm.” The ringing gets louder as Stiles pulls out his phone before he then shuts it off. “Ah, 5 o’clock, I’ve gotta get out of here.” When he stands up Derek notices that Stiles is taller than he’d been assuming. He’s probably as tall as Derek. 

“It was nice meeting you Derek, and your daughter.” He shouts over to the direction of the jungle-gym part of the park. “Bye Lia! Starbuck and I are going!” A far-away “Bye Stiles!” comes as a response.

Stiles turns back to Derek with a hand out-stretched and he stands up in order to shake. “ _Almost as tall as me_ ,” he notes. “Nice meeting you too, Stiles. Hopefully we’ll see you around.” 

“Ha, I’m not even going to make a joke because it’d be too easy. But yeah, I’ll see you around.” Starbuck immediately starts heading towards the sidewalk with Stiles tailing. “And turn on the damn radio once in a while you loser!”

Derek finds himself laughing at that. Then he finds himself laughing at Stiles. It was a nice conversation and probably the first normal and full conversation he’s had with another adult in weeks. Although, he isn’t sure how “adult” Stiles really is and finds himself regretting not asking his age, or more about him in general. He starts feeling weird about his own thought process, so he shakes his head and tries to focus on something else.

He keeps an eye on Malia for the next half hour, mostly thinking about going to the college this week and setting up his office. He hopes no one minds Lia tagging along and tacking up her coloring pages along his desk because he wants to avoid a babysitter at all costs. At 5:33, Derek calls Malia over and they walk home. Not so shockingly, she asks about dinner. Much more shockingly, she says how she liked Stiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't name the dog "Wolf" like I've read 100x...so I went the nerd route.  
> But the guy who plays Gerard Argent also plays Saul Tigh on Battlestar Galactica...it's so totally relevant.  
> (Drop what you're doing and watch BSG it's life changing.)
> 
> Yet to come: Shenanigans followed by angst followed by shenanigans followed by angst. Stay tuned.
> 
> Comment below or message me [karlarado.tumblr.com](karlarado.tumblr.com) if you liked it or think something should be different! Thanks!


	3. I Don't Get Drum and Bass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the friendship finally begins in this chapter! Because I'm lame and want them to be friends for a painfully long time before, you know, Sterek.  
> Beta'd forever by tullycat who deserves your praise.
> 
> The title of this chapter is from [The Future Freaks Me Out](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd3dgB_ocQs&feature=kp) by Motion City Soundtrack because they are my one true love and I forsee me referencing them plenty. Which may foreshadow pain. You've been warned.

It’s 6:03 pm on Saturday when Malia finally finishes her dinner. Derek still marvels not only at how much one small child can eat, but how long it takes for her to finish. They both get up from the table and move to the other side of the kitchen where they put their plates in the sink. 

“Can we go to the park again, Daddy ? I wanna go now.”

Although it had been a full six days since they went to the park, the bruise on Malia’s leg is still pretty sizable from when she fell down. Derek had been hoping to push back going to the park for a little longer until he thought she was better. A week sounds like long enough. He’ll need to remember to keep a better eye on her next time. “How about we go tomorrow, Lia? If we go all the time you might get bored of it. And besides, we just ate.” He told himself they’d go Sunday solely for the bruise, but he knew that some part in the back of his brain was hoping Stiles would be there at the same time as last week. Because…Derek doesn’t know exactly why, because he seemed really nice? He is just saying it’s because of the bruise. 

Malia’s bottom lip juts out almost comically. “I guess I can wait ‘til then…”

“Well while you’re waiting, come help daddy with the dishes.” 

She pulls out a step stool from between the wall and a cabinet and sets it up in front of the drying rack. “I need a towel!” she says with more excitement than is called for when doing dishes. Derek is going to miss that when she’s a teenager. He hands her a towel and picks up a sponge for himself.

As soon as he has the water running, Derek remembers Stiles mocking him last week about not listening to music, specifically while doing the dishes. If they do run into him tomorrow, Derek might as well avoid being ridiculed this time. “Lia, did you wanna listen to the radio while we do this?”

“Yeah! But how do you listen to the radio if we’re not in the car?” 

Suddenly he remembers that they in fact do not own a radio, likely because he doesn’t listen to the radio. “You know that’s a good question. Wait one second I think I have an idea.” He turns off the water and dries his hands with the towel Malia is holding. Derek is out of the room for all of 40 seconds before he comes back with his laptop. He opens Google and searches _‘beacon hills CA radio stations’_ being he knew none of them off hand. In his defense, they have only lived here a week. There is a Wikipedia site that lists all of the different stations in their general area as well as what kind of music they play. Unfortunately for Derek, more than half are sports networks. He scrolls down and sees a handful of Latin American and Spanish oriented stations, but if he wanted that he would have just played something from his iTunes. Finally, Derek finds a station that plays “alternative” and decides it’s his best bet. He goes to the website and presses the “Live Play” button. “That was a lot of work. You still ready to dry?”

“I was _born_ ready!” Lia screams out. Derek almost chokes on his spit. He picks the sponge back up and turns on the water when the music finally starts to play after a lag.

The current song sounds like it’s at the beginning of a chorus, and has a very distinct drum beat. It’s catchy, Derek will give it that. When he’s done with the first plate and hands it to Malia, he sees she’s dancing ever so slightly with her hips to the song. She’s a bit off beat, but it still looks good on her. “Don’t drop this plate because you were too busy dancing, ok?” 

“I’m not gonna drop it!” She shakes her hips a little more defiantly now.

“Malia…”

“I said I won’t! I promise! You should dance too, Daddy, it’s fun.”

“I’m doing very important work washing over here, I need to concentrate.”

“You can do both silly!”

The song has moved on to a part Derek doesn’t think he can dance to, so he continues to wash the dishes with little motion to his body. He can see Lia pouting with his peripherals. There is a four second pause as the song ends before the next one comes on. Derek thought the last song was catchy, but this one takes the cake. Malia is all sorts of movements on the step stool next to him, and before the song is halfway through, he finds himself dancing with her. They’re both moving their hips now, though Derek is much more on beat than Lia, and she keeps trying to whistle along, failing fairly badly. They still somehow manage to wash three more dishes and four cups, so Derek is pretty pleased once the song is over.

“Hey listeners” comes over the radio now instead of another song. “You just heard [The Walker](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGBLlFMn9Xc) by Fitz and the Tantrums…” Derek swears he’s heard that voice before…

“And before that was [Hey Girl](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXtHJIACrlE&feature=kp) by IAMDYNAMITE. Hopefully they brought some joy to your Saturday evening doldrums!” It can’t be who he thinks it is…

“As always this is Styles and you’re listening to KUDL 106.5 – ”

“What the _hell_?!” Derek catches himself saying…out loud…

“Yeah, what the hell?!” comes from beside him. She might have realized whose voice was on the radio, but she seems to have repeated that solely because Derek said it.

“No no baby, don’t repeat that.” He’s usually better at not swearing around Malia , but he was too taken back by Stiles being a _radio DJ_ to remember to keep it in.

They can still hear him going “ – we’ll get back to some more jams right after these commercials.”

Derek steps away from the sink and presses the “Pause” button with a still wet finger. They are _definitely_ going to the park tomorrow.

xxx

“Can we leave now?” Lia asks, with a tone of annoyance, from the doorway to the foyer. She has her shoes on and everything.

“Sweetheart, I said we can leave when I’m done with this lesson plan, give me a few more minutes.” Derek has actually been not so patiently waiting all day long until 4:00 to leave for the park. He doesn’t know why he’s trying to cover up that fact from Malia, yet here he is making it sound like this lecture needs to be edited now.

Six minutes later the large grandfather clock chimes four times, and Lia comes running back in. “So we can go outside _now_?”

He’s glad she’s always been energetic and loved being outside. Peter wasn’t like that at all, and Derek likes every way she is different from her father . “Yeah, we can head out. Let me put my shoes on before you run out the door alright?” He puts on his faux leather boots, grabs his keys, and then Lia’s hand. 

They mostly talk about the neighborhood, and how she needs to be more careful as to not hurt her bruise anymore, until the park comes into their vision. Suddenly Derek realizes he hasn’t thought of anything articulate to say if they do in fact run into Stiles. He thinks about slowing his pace, but he already sees Stiles.

“Daddy! Stiles and Starbuck are on the same bench! Let’s say hi!” She starts running and tugging Derek along with her.

Derek figures he’s got nearly 25 seconds to think of something to say, when Lia pulls ahead of him more and screams _“What the hell?!”_ in Stile’s general direction. Not how he was hoping this would go…

“Lia! Oh my god, Malia no. No, I told you not to repeat that.” He picks her up, hoping it won’t become a thing he has to do every time she’s at the park – or near Stiles. “Uh, hey again, Stiles…” Derek doesn’t want to say he’s glad Stiles is blind, but he is glad the man can’t see how red his face must be. He walks to the front of the bench so that they’re now facing Stiles.

“Ha ha, such parenting skills there , Derek.” He says much more at Derek’s face than last week. “Hey Lia! Wanna tell me what I did wrong before you give your daddy a heart attack?” Stiles has a pretty sizable smirk on his face as he tilts his head up to her.

“My daddy said that when we heard you on the radio last night. I didn’t think it was you ‘til you said your name.” Now that that omission is out, Stiles’ smile gets even wider.

Derek needs to put a stop to this before his face gets so red Stiles will feel it. “Yeah alright that’s enough from you. I’m going to put you down, you’re going to pet Starbuck, and then you’re going to go and play.” Once she is on the ground she goes about doing just those things. She manages to slip in a friendly _“I’ll be back”_ to Stiles before she runs away.

Derek is trying to think of something to say to make sense of the situation when Stiles interrupts his thought process: “Real charmer you’ve got on your hands there, Derek.” 

“Yeah, she gets that from –” he realizes he’s about to tell a stranger a part of the very muddy story on how Malia is, in fact, not his child and stops himself short. “In my defense, I did tell her not to repeat that.” Not the best save but Derek will have to make do.

“Glad I could cause such a ruckus at your household last night then. My job here is done.” Stiles scoots over a little on the bench as to make room for Derek, who sits down on cue. 

“You could have told me you were a DJ or whatever last week. It would have explained why you were so floored by me. Er, by my lack of music interest I mean.” _Smooth._

“I would have told you had I known you were going to listen to the freaking _alternative_ station during _my_ show! I figured if you actually did turn on the radio you’d tune to some la musica or whatever. Besides, we just met, I couldn’t give away all of my secrets.” Derek is relatively sure that there was a wink coming from underneath Stiles’ [sunglasses](http://www.warbyparker.com/sunglasses/men/winston#lunar-fade). He thinks his face is going to be red this whole conversation.

“Well still, if I knew I was talking to a radio personality I might have at least pretended to like music more.”

“Oh so now I’m a personality? Hardly, but my ego thanks you. And nah it wouldn’t have been as much fun; I wouldn’t know the real and lame you that way.”

“Whilst not letting me know the real you.” It was a bit snappy as it left Derek’s mouth, but he is rather curious about the _real_ Stiles for some reason. Maybe this could lead to that discovery.

“Oh, touché! Fair enough Derek Hale.” Stiles lets out an overdramatic cough that Derek has to raise an eyebrow to. “I’m Stiles, and yes my DJ name is Styles with a “y” because I’m lazy. That’s a pretty relevant character flaw mind you. Surprise, I’m blind! And obviously I’m really sarcastic about it which I think of as a character _strength_ though some may disagree . I’ve been told I’m now 5’11” because being an even 6’ would be too easy. I haven’t always been blind, and the last time I saw myself I was lanky and pale so I have to believe it’s still true. I’ve lived in Beacon Hills all twenty-five years of my existence so if you need to know anything about it, I’m your guy.” He does a little bit of a bow from his seat “Tada, is that real enough for you?”

Derek wanted to know more, but he definitely wasn’t expecting that small wave of information. Is this how normal strangers talk? Because he was not mentally prepared for any of that. While trying to process everything he just heard, Derek kept getting stuck on one thing: “You’re twenty-five?” 

“Ha, yes I’m twenty-five. Why, how old do you think I look?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it, but I guess I’d peg you as twenty-one.” He certainly knew Stiles was younger than him, but Derek thought he seemed too energetic to be more than just out of college. Twenty-five is a lot closer in age. 

“Really? Sweet, if I actually went to bars maybe I’d get carded.” Stiles laughs at that idea. “So, your turn; who’s the real Derek Hale?” He waves his arms in a poor attempt at jazz hands and Starbuck turns around to see what all the commotion is about.

“You’re not serious.” Describing himself has never been one of Derek’s strong suits. And he’s still nervous, for some reason, which he knows won’t help.

“It’s only fair. Plus, I can’t see you; I need some character details to make up my mental image. Do it for the blind guy!” Stiles tries pouting a bit but Derek can see a smile fighting to break through. It makes his mouth start moving before his mind does.

“Uh, well…I’m Derek? This feels weird. Alright. I’m Derek. Not blind.” _Oh my god, I said that out loud._ Stiles laughs at that, so he feels alright to continue. “I am an even 6’ so I guess I have that over you…uh…Malia and I are from about five hours south of here. The back story for moving is too long so I’m just going to leave it at “we had to”…”

Stiles chimes in then: “Ohh, ominous.” Derek wasn’t expecting an interruption so he pauses until Stiles speaks again. “Oh, sorry continue.”

“Right, um. I teach Latin American studies at the local university, or at least I’ll start up in the fall –” 

“Oh my god, that’s why you’ve got such a hard-on for Latin music, it’s your _job._ ” There’s another pause. “Ah, I’m sorry I’m really bad at sitting through a story quietly, continue.”

Yeah, he would not have pegged Stiles as twenty-five. “Uh, yeah I do really enjoy the different languages and cultures and everything. I wouldn’t say hard-on , more of a healthy fascination and respect but uh, anyway. I’m twenty-eight and I guess I look twenty-eight? Did you want me to describe what I look like to you, or…?” He’s never really talked to someone who was blind for this long, and Derek doesn’t quite know how to go about this.

“Oh, no no dude, you tell me whatever you want to about yourself. I’m not gonna be greedy with your details.”

“I’m really not good at this, so you know. Uh, I’ve got dark brown hair, it’s like yours but a little shorter. Greenish/blueish eyes? It depends. I guess I’d be the opposite of lanky and pale? I’m a bit tan and I work out.” Derek can’t believe he said that to another human being. “I’ve been told I look kind of menacing actually.” Derek laughs thinking back on an incident. “One time a cop stopped me in a parking lot because he thought I was kidnapping Lia or something.” 

“Really? No my mental image of you is so far from menacing.” He laughs a bit at that. “The thought that you look intimidating is hysterical because it _so_ does not fit you. You take your daughter to the park and take pity on the blind guy by talking to him, that’s literally the least threatening you can get.”

Stiles is probably right, Derek isn’t foreboding at all, especially because the next thing out of his mouth is, “I’m, I’m not taking pity on you.” 

“See now that’s exactly what I mean! You’re so nice!” Stiles reaches down a bit and starts petting Starbuck’s head. “I mean, I’m not going to put down that you’re talking to me, but dude, I could be a total creep. I’m at a park without a kid, and I’m wearing sunglasses. That’s the type of person you stay away from.” 

“Unlike me, _you_ don’t look menacing.” Derek bends over to pet the dog as well. “Plus you have a service dog in a vest, it kinda gives you away.” 

“Damn, you’re gonna have to teach me to be scarier then, it might come in handy one day if someone tries taking advantage of the fact I can’t see them. You said you teach, right? What do you have to do to teach Latin whatever studies?” Stiles smiles at Derek as if he knows how annoyed Derek gets when people don’t comprehend his work.

“It’s Latin _American_ studies, thank you. And uh, do you really wanna hear this?”

Stiles nods enthusiastically. “Yeah! I’ve never hung out with a bon-a-fide teacher. And I know absolutely nothing about places south of like, San Fran. Educate me, _professor_ .” 

They’re “hanging out” now, apparently. That makes Derek realize he wasn’t here solely to talk to Stiles, and glances back up to check on Malia. _Not dead._ Good, he’ll have to start paying more attention to her as he talks. “Well I mean I teach some courses on culture or religion or politics of different countries. In some classes we compare them. Personally my favorite courses to teach are ones of Europeans invading the Americas from a Latin American perspective. Like, Columbus was a dick, don’t get me started on that one . Um, I’m qualified to teach Spanish as well, but normally I only do one more advanced course a semester. That’s about it; it’s just like any other teaching position.” Except that it’s really important to him, but Derek doesn’t want to sound obsessive.

“So what you’re telling me is that you’re bilingual?”

“Is that all you got out of that ?” Again, he’s pretty passionate. 

“No no! Columbus was a douche, lots of different cultures, I got all that. But, you’re fluent in Spanish? _Advanced_ even?” The smile on Stiles is so big it’s almost scary to Derek.

“Uh, yes I’m fluent in Spanish. I also know a bit of Portuguese and –”

“Say something in Spanish! Say literally anything in Spanish. I want to hear your accent.”

Derek normally hates when people do this to him, but Stiles looks so excited and he feels compelled to comply. “Fine. Estoy diciendo la frase “literalmente, cualquier palabra en español” porque soy inmaduro, pero no puedo negarte nada .”

“Oh that was glorious. A+ accent good sir. Alright that sounds creepy I just find accents really fascinating. Don’t judge me. So, what did you say?”

The beautiful thing about being fluent in another language is being able to talk without the people near you understanding. Derek doesn’t like giving that up. “Can’t reveal my secrets.” 

“Ha, fine, I’ll let you have that one.”

There are a couple minutes of silence then. Derek finds it comfortable, for the most part, which then starts to bother him. He can’t find a reason why, but he wants to talk to Stiles more, to get to know him better. The fact that this is the longest normal conversation he’s had with someone in a long time doesn’t matter; he wants to keep talking. “Does your fascination mean you’re not fluent in another language?” Not the most interesting question, but hopefully it’ll start Stiles up.

“Me? No. People tried getting me to learn braille before I went blind and after but I couldn’t master that. Actual languages you have to speak are even worse.” Stiles chuckles to himself then. “I guess you can say I’m fluent in music and a soundboard. But that doesn’t really count.” 

“Is that hard? Working at a radio station and having to use a soundboard?” Derek knows absolutely zip about how those things work. He just knows waves are involved at some point.

“Oh god dude it’s amazing, and I like to think I’m amazing at it. I mean I have an assistance who does a lot of the digital stuff for me, but I’m the one picking the songs and interviewing guests and all of the enjoyable stuff. You don’t really need eyes to know if a song is good or not, so it’s perfect. Sorry I’m rambling a bit.” 

Just then Stiles’ phone makes a noise; it’s not 5:00 though, like last week .

“Ah, speak of the devil. I’ve got to go in early to the station for a guest we’re having on. Bit of a drama queen apparently .” He stands up and reaches for Derek’s hand yet again. “Sorry I’m cutting this short, but I’m here the same time every week; you and Lia should keep coming then, I’m enjoying out little chats.” Derek is positive he sees a wink this time. 

He stands up to shake Stiles’ hand properly, and tries to think of something to say. “That sounds, nice.” _Nice?_ Ugh.

“Ha, good, nice works. I’ll bother you then, Derek.” He smiles as he shouts off a good-bye to Lia again with Starbuck ahead of him.

It looks like this is going to be a regular thing. Derek isn’t sure if what he's feeling is excitement or anxiety.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnd now that they know each other better the plot can thicken!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it! This fic is for tullycat really, so you'll have to deal with some Latin American stuff because it's her jam. But also, bilingual Derek is hot, right? Right. 
> 
> As per usual: find me at karlarado.tumblr.com! Message me there or comment on here with any questions or concerns!


	4. Who is Gonna Break the Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: If cancer or other serious illnesses trigger you you may want to avoid the middle of this chapter. Nothing too serious, but just in case!
> 
> All the new characters! All the events! All the plot!  
> Tullycat the end of this fic is just gonna be a proposal to you after you had to deal with beta-ing the whole thing.
> 
> I'm gonna loosely say that I'll be updating this once a week, but it's more like once every 5-10 days. I know I'm vague and terrible I'm sorry.
> 
> The title of this chapter is from Cannibal by Silversun Pickups, which I also use in the fic, because it gives me so many Teen Wolf feels I s2g they need to use it.

Normally at 6:15 on a Saturday evening, Malia is almost climbing Derek while telling him she’s bored. Thankfully he can actually get some of his work done in peace on this particular Saturday since he and Lia went to the Beacon Hills Library earlier in the week. After much contemplation she settled on four books, which Derek hopes will take her at least a week to finish. 

He’s setting up more lesson plans, specifically first day introductions, which always make him irrationally nervous. Derek knows he needs to spend extra time preparing for them and having Malia _not_ around is actually really helpful. 

Derek has loved peace and quiet for as long as he can remember, but sometimes when it’s this quiet he thinks back to his family, or the fire, or Peter. None of those are things he actually wants to think about, so he opens up a new tab on his PC and goes to the now saved radio station. Some background music should distract Derek just enough to not let his mind wander. 

When he presses the “Play” button, an advertisement for Taco Bell plays and Derek feels almost disappointed. He looks back to his work and hopes that something comes on soon. After two more ads, the familiar voice he was expecting rolls over the airwaves: “Welcome back listeners! Hope you enjoyed those words from our sponsors.” Derek laughs as he hears the sarcasm in Stiles’ voice. 

“As always I’m DJ Styles bringing you the best possible music you could be listening to, so good choice spending your Saturday evening with me, Sacramento. Now, back to the jams.”

Derek can feel himself slip into a better mood already and decides background music was the perfect idea.

He is just about done with his work when Derek realizes he hasn’t been paying too much attention to the music on the radio; only getting distracted when it stops and he hears a voice, be it a salesperson or Stiles. Derek starts trying to listen a little more to the music as he finishes up. Maybe during one of his new “hang out” times with Stiles and Starbuck he’ll be able to name a popular song. He’d really love to see the shock on Stiles’ face…

He wants to enjoy the music on the station, and most of it is catchy, but sometimes the lyrics can be off putting…  
 _“Who will be the first to bite?”_  
Derek’s relatively sure this song is about cannibalism. He likes Stiles, or uh, likes talking to Stiles, but sometimes his music choices are concerning.

Stiles voice comes over shortly after. “And that was [Cannibal](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl6GNXVIwqE&src_vid=yYjunrxUyAc&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_3937012391) by Silversun Pickups off of their latest album.” 

Derek hopes Stiles never give Malia any mixtapes…

“Up next is some Two Door Cinema Club because I’m dying for that new album they promised! They need to get off their British asses, am I right? Of course I am. Anyway, here’s [Something Good Can Work.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxu02vp_Vm0&feature=kp)"

 

Derek laughs at Stiles swearing on the radio, and how completely different he sounds compared to how he has talked to Malia the last couple of times they met. Stiles is fairly good with her; keeps his swearing and sarcasm inside and… _Oh. Right. Malia._ Derek looks at the time, sees it’s 7:05, and figures he should go check on her. He closes his laptop and runs up stairs, hoping to read some of Lia’s book to her before bed.

xxx

Malia has apparently realized that they go to the park at 4pm on Sundays now, so at 3:55 she is bothering Derek to put on his shoes. “Daddy! You know it takes you forever to tie your boots up so you gotta start doing them early.” She brings the boots over to him at the dining room table then goes back into the foyer to put on her own. “It’s nice outside!”

Derek puts down the textbook he was going over and starts putting on the boots in front of him. “It is, that’s why we’re going to the park….right….now!” he says as he finishes up his laces. They leave the house and thankfully Lia doesn’t run ahead of Derek or pull him like the last few times. Now they more leisurely walk to the park; both of them are taking in the beautiful weather. Derek uses the silence to think about how weird it is for him to have a friend who is _somewhat_ his age that _isn’t_ a colleague. He talked plenty to other professors at this last university, and would actually go out with some of them from time to time, but he rarely went out and hung out with people. This all just seems strange to him but he’s prepared to take it as the good kind of strange.

When they approach the park, Derek sees Stiles on his usual bench with Starbuck at his feet, but something is different. _Someone_ is new.

She has a very full head of blonde hair and looks young enough to be Stiles’ age. Derek can feel himself getting more nervous the closer they get to the bench. Malia doesn’t seem fazed at all by the stranger because when they’re within ear shot she yells: “Hey Mr. Stiles!”

The two on the bench stop their conversation as Stiles turns toward the direction of the voice and the blonde looks up at Derek quizzically. 

“Hey Lia! And it’s just Stiles, remember?” Stiles smiles at them as they come up to the bench and the girl sitting beside him gives a little laugh. 

“Just Stiles, got it!” 

“Hey Derek, I’m assuming you’re here, too,” Stiles says with a much cheekier smile than the one before.

“Yeah I’m here. Hey Stiles.” Derek shoots a glance at the girl now, expecting an introduction but too nervous to make the first line of conversation. Luckily he doesn’t have to.

“Hi there!” She extends a hand out to Derek. “I’m Erica, nice to meet you!” Her smile is extremely toothy as she turns her attention down towards Malia. “And Stiles said your name is Lia, right?” 

She gives a nod in confirmation. “My name’s Malia but my daddy calls me Lia a lot. So does Mr. – uh, so does Stiles!” Lia bounces a little bit when she gets Stiles’ name right and Derek can’t help but smile, even if he is a little thrown off by meeting Stiles’ girlfriend.

Stiles turns toward Erica then. “These are the nice new people in town I was telling you about. Oh wait!” He turns back a bit to face Lia. “Malia, can you tell Erica how old you are?”

“I’m 6 and a half! Daddy always forgets the half.”

Erica perks up at that. “Really? Wow that’s old! Does that mean you’ll be in 1st grade soon?”

Derek answers the question instead of Lia. “Yeah she’s enrolled for 1st grade at Beacon Hills Elementary this fall. Hopefully it will be a lot of fun.” He grabs her hand and gives it a squeeze after that, knowing that she hasn’t quite been looking forward to going back to school.

Erica looks back down at Lia when she responds. “Oh I’m sure it will be! You wanna know how I know?” Malia nods her head a little. “My son is going to go there for 1st grade, too! He went there for kindergarten last year and loved it.”

That throws Derek for a curveball. Stiles dating someone with a son would explain why he’s so good when Lia is around…

Stiles breaks Derek’s train of thought when he starts talking. “Yeah Lia, Erica’s got a son who’s about your age, but he’s just six, not six and a half.” Lia smiles at the recognition of her proper age. “And she brought him to the park today. You wanna meet him?” 

Derek rubs the back of her hand with his thumb as he tries to reassure her that it will be fine. Erica must have seen the slightly distressed look on Lia’s face after Stiles asked because she speaks up next. “He’s really nice, I promise.”

Stiles chimes in right after: “ _Very_ nice.”

Once Malia gives the tiniest nod Derek thinks she is capable of, Erica shouts across the playground. “James! Can you come over here for a minute?”

Both Derek and Malia turn around to see a boy, a bit shorter than Lia but probably stronger, come running towards them. Derek notices that he’s a much darker skin tone than Erica, who’s almost as pale as Stiles.

James comes over a little out of breath and starts to pet Starbuck. “Yes?”

“James, I’d like you to meet Derek and his daughter Malia, she’s six and a half.”

The little boy turns all of his attention over to Lia. “Cool! I’m six, but I’ll be six and a half soon!” 

Malia smiles at that, and it’s a little less shy of a smile than Derek was expecting.

“Do you wanna play on the swings with me? I bet I can go higher than you! Even if you’re older!” 

She looks up to Derek as if to ask his permission. He smiles back down at her. “Go on and have fun. But be careful remember?” 

She nods in agreement then looks back at James. “I’ll race ya!” The two of them run off to mulched area harboring the swing set not too far away. Derek turns back to the two sitting on the bench and realizes he’s now alone with them.

“You can sit down, too, Derek, we’ll make some room.” Stiles scoots closer to Erica after saying that and pats the spot next to him. Once Stiles probably feels Derek sit down he starts to speak again. “So! Erica, this is the guy I mentioned to you the other week. The professor latinoamericano.” He makes an obvious wink towards Derek. “And this is my good friend Erica. She _finally_ decided it was nice enough weather to come out to the park with James. Oh, by the way Erica, where’s Boyd? I thought he’d jump at the chance to come here with him.”

Oh. They’re not dating, then. They’re just really good friends. Just to be sure that he understands the scene going on in front of him, Derek chimes in. “Boyd?”

Erica smiles at the name. “Boyd is my husband.” She directs that at Derek, then turns more toward Stiles. “Someone at the ice rink called in with an emergency right before their shift started so Boyd is staying late rather than have them be short-handed.” Stiles nods at that information, but Derek is a bit lost and Erica can tell. “My husband owns the local ice rink in town. It’s pretty nice if I do say so myself. You and Lia should come by sometime to skate!”

“Ha, well I’m not so sure about me, but I think Malia would enjoy that.” Derek doesn’t particularly want to admit that he doesn’t know how to ice skate, especially in front of someone whose livelihood is about it.

“You could always sit on the sidelines with me; blindness and ice don’t really mesh well.” Stiles says with a big smile. Both Derek and Erica laugh at that. 

“So! Stiles said you’re newish in town. How is Beacon Hills treating you so far?”

“Uh, it’s been pretty good I guess. The neighborhood is really nice and I’ve heard some great things about the school. Hopefully that and nice kids like your son make it easier on Lia.” He pauses as he decides the appropriate thing to say next. “She had a bit of a hard time with some of the children at her old school, so she’s apprehensive about starting back up.”

Erica looks concerned at that. “Well, don’t worry BH Elementary is a really welcoming place. Jamie had such a good time there last year; none of the kids I have met are mean or bullies, so Lia will be just fine.”

“I’m hoping so.” He wants to get away from the subject of Lia and school and tries to think of a not-so-obvious segue. “I’m hoping the students and staff at the college are as welcoming to me as well. I haven’t met many of the other professors yet.”

Stiles throws his head back in a laugh and Erica’s eyes brighten up after he says that. “Well you have now!” Erica says as she holds out her hand to him again. “Hi, Dr. Boyd. French Language and Composition professor at the local university.”

Derek was not expecting that turn of events, but he tries his best to roll with it. He shakes her hand yet again and replies in the best French he can muster up. “Bonsoir. Je suis professeur Hale. Stiles mentionné…uhm…que j'enseigne études latino-américaines.”

Stiles groans and pushes the two hands in front of him apart. “Oh god you two are going to be best friends and never talk to me again. What have I done.” Erica then slaps Stiles on the shoulder which takes Derek by surprise. 

“Your French is pretty good, but your accent is a little, well, Spanish. Big surprise there.” She flashes him another wide grin.

“Ha thanks. I don’t normally speak a lot of French, I mostly have to be able to read it for historical purposes.” Something dawns on him just then. “Wait, I’m sorry I’m a bit confused. You said you are Dr. Boyd, but Boyd is also your husband’s name?”

Stiles smiles at that and answers. “Her husband’s name is Vernon Boyd. Well, Veron Milton Boyd IV if you wanna get technical. We’ve just called him Boyd for as long as I can remember though. Old habits die hard.”

“Ah, alright that makes more sense then. So how do you all know each other? Did you grow up in Beacon Hills like Stiles did?”

Erica looks out onto the playground to check on James and Lia, then turns more so she can give Derek her full attention. “I moved here in the fifth grade actually, but never really talked to Stiles until high school. See, I have epilepsy and back then it wasn’t under control like it is now. But one day during lunch when I was seizing everybody started panicking and out of nowhere Stiles comes running over and actually has the brains to read my medical bracelet. So he rolls me over on my side and called 911. The seizure stopped on its own after a few minutes but I still needed to see a doctor so I was so glad Stiles actually came over and helped me. Not that many people wanted to hang out with a girl who could seize at any moment, so I was always really grateful that he cared enough to do that.” She takes Stiles’ hand between hers then and they smile at each other. 

“So when he was diagnosed I felt like we were in a similar boat, you know? I mean all of the friends he had stuck by him, but some kids started to look at him differently and I knew just how that felt, so I started to hang out with him a lot more and now here we are!”

She was smiling at Derek, but he could see in her face as it faded toward concern. He knew that she must see in _his_ face that he was confused. Stiles had mentioned once that he hadn’t always been blind, but she said he’d be _diagnosed_ with something, and that worried Derek.

“Oh! Oh my god did you not know? Did I just make things awkward? I did, I so did.”

Stiles lets out a small laugh as he rubs the back of his neck. “Alright yeah I’ll just get this over with. When I was halfway through sophomore year I was diagnosed with occipital lobe cancer. As far as cancer patients go it wasn’t too bad of a time for me. I mean, I first went to the doctor when I was having some vision problems, and when we found out it was cancer they couldn’t do the surgery because of the spacing and size of the tumors. So I actually had some time to prepare for this eternal darkness.” He let out a small laugh at that, and Derek thinks he’s trying to lighten the mood. “But uh, yeah when I finally got the surgery it didn’t leave too big of scars which is a plus. And I think I still hold the record at the cancer pavilion for “Kid Who Threw Up the Least While on Chemotherapy.” Once, by the way. It was the first time and after that I think my body just decided to accept the chemicals.” Stiles started doing a jazz-hand motion. “And that is how I came to be the dapper blind man you see today!” 

Derek is used to tragic back-stories, and he’s still convinced Lia and he have one of the worst, but after hearing about what Stiles and Erica had to deal with, it’s pretty high up there, too. He feels like he’s going to need eternity to process all of this. “I uh, I’m sorry I don’t quite know what to say to all of that.”

Stiles frowns a bit at that. “Did I completely scare you away?”

Derek starts waving his hands furiously even though he knows Stiles can’t see him. “No! No, not at all! I just mean that I feel the excessive need to apologize to you even though I had nothing to do with it. So uh, I’m sorry is what I guess I mean to say.” 

The smile comes back to Stiles face almost immediately. “In that case, good! Glad I got that out of the way. Uh, you guys want to talk about something else or focus completely on the fact that I can’t see?”

“No way am I letting _you_ be the center of attention when there’s someone new and attractive who can be!” Erica slaps Stiles again as she says it and gives Derek a wink. 

He can feel his ears getting red.

“Dude, you never mentioned you were attractive!” Stiles gives him the goofiest smile yet and yep, Derek can feel his whole face change colors.

The three talk for another half an hour or so before Stiles’ alarm is reminding him that he and Starbuck need to go. Derek feels a little awkward about it at first, but he ends up staying and talking to Erica for another whole hour. It turns out they do have a lot in common, beyond both being young professors. 

Derek realizes he should be a good father and make Malia dinner at a _decent_ time, so he calls her over. Both she and James come running. 

“Hey Lia, it’s time to go home now. We gotta make dinner!” She frowns a little at first but Derek knows she loves the idea of eating.

“Ok, but can we come back sometime soon so I can play with James?” 

Derek definitely wasn’t expecting her to make a friend instantly, but he will certainly take it.

“Of course we can. In fact, I was talking to James’ mom and she said you’re welcome to play at their house sometime. Right Erica?”

“You can come over whenever you want! James loves having his friends over.”

Once James catches his breath it’s his turn to interject. “Yeah my mom makes amazing mac n’ cheese! You have to come over to try it!”

Derek loves the smile that shoots across Lia’s face at the idea of both a playdate and mac n’ cheese. Moving to Beacon Hills seems like the best idea he’s ever had.

xxx

 

Moving to Beacon Hills seems like the worst idea he’s ever had.

It’s Monday night, or, no it’s 3:42 Tuesday morning, actually, when Derek runs downstairs toward the backyard with an old baseball bat in hand. He had heard extremely vicious noises coming from outside only moments before, and then some banging on the backdoor. He opens the door when he’s almost face to face with it: a huge wolf, mouth covered in blood, staring at him with cold blue eyes. Thankfully Derek hasn’t managed to leave the doorway, so he takes one giant step back and locks the door in front of him. He reaches to the right to turn on the deck lights in an attempt to scare off the thing he just saw. When the brightness falls onto the scene, the wolf bolts away and Derek spots what all the blood was from: a large black-tailed deer whose neck is ripped to shreds on the porch.

With the wolf out of sight Derek calms down enough to think clearly. _Wolves aren’t even native to this fucking part of California._ He decides the best thing to do is call animal control right away, even if it isn’t yet dawn. 

Twenty–five minutes later there is a knock on the door. Derek opens it to find not only an animal control officer, but what looks like half of the local police force. 

A man with a sheriff’s badge holds out his hand. “Good uh, morning, Mr. Hale, right?” Derek gives the man as firm of a shake as he can muster at this hour and nods. “I’m Sheriff Stilinski. Long story short: the department is investigating a case that might involve the wolf you said you saw earlier. We’d like to sit in and ask a few questions while you give your story to animal control here.” 

Derek nods again and realizes they’re all still on his front porch. “Uh, yeah sure no problem, come on in. The deer is out in the back when your people want to remove it.” He aims the last part at the AC officer, who shakes his head in understanding. 

From what Derek is getting out of the sheriff, there was an animal attack in the next town over that left two people dead, and they think it was the same wolf that Derek encountered. Both the police and animal control are hoping to find it and put it down before something worse than a deer attack happens again. 

It’s too early in the morning for Derek to deal with this level of danger. 

He’s almost nodding off to sleep in the chair when the two men get up to leave. The sheriff walks by the fireplace and notices the pictures across the mantle place. “You have a daughter? Is she home?”

“What? Oh yeah sorry it’s still early for me.” He gives a yawn before answering. “Yeah, her name is Malia.”

“Did she see anything involving the attack?”

“No no, she’s probably the heaviest sleeper I know. I’d bet she’s been sleeping the whole time you two have been inside.”

“I guess that’s for the best then. Well, thank you for your time, Mr. Hale, hopefully your description and details can come in handy.”

“It’s Derek, and sure thing Sheriff. Glad to help.”

The minute everyone is out the door, Derek heads straight back to bed, not caring to turn off the back porch lights. All he can think about is the comfort of his sheets.

xxx

Derek sleeps almost until noon when Lia comes in to wake him. “Daddy! I want breakfast but it’s almost time for lunch. Which one do you wanna make?”

He’s not in the least bit surprised that she’s thinking about food, but he is shocked he slept in so late. Then he remembers the beast in the backyard. “Sorry sweetheart, Daddy had a long night. How do waffles sound?” 

At some point whilst mixing the batter Derek remembers meeting the sheriff last night. He can’t remember his last name for the life of him, but he vividly remembers that the man wasn’t in any sort of uniform; it looked more like he ran out of the house with a decent shirt and pinned the badge onto it. Derek probably made the guy get out of bed that early in the morning and the sheriff didn’t even complain. The animal control guy, however, looked like he normally works the night shift since he seemed unusually awake. 

The longer it takes to prepare breakfast the guiltier Derek starts to feel about waking the police force. By the time he sets down a waffle in front of Malia he figures out how to cope with it. “Hey Malia, I’ve got an idea.” She looks up at him with a mouth full of waffle and syrup. “How would you like to have that playdate with James today?”

Luckily Erica and Derek exchanged numbers before they parted ways at the park so he is able to contact her with no problem. Even luckier, Erica was planning on cleaning up the house today anyway and was more than alright with having Lia over. They work out the details and about an hour and a half later Derek is driving over to the house.

The house is a lot like Derek’s, which doesn’t surprise him much being this neighborhood was only ten minutes away. Erica opens the door when they pull in the drive.

“I did not peg you for a Camaro kind of guy.” She says with a smirk.

He walks around the car to open the door for Malia. “Everyone says that for some reason.”

Lia shyly says hi to Erica, who explains that James is in the living room with some toys and she’s welcome to join. She looks up to Derek, waiting for a hug goodbye. 

They haven’t been apart at all in the last month, Derek now realizes, and suddenly the idea of dropping her off with Erica makes him a bit sad. She’s had nannies and gone to daycare before, but not since the move. He picks her up and gives her as big of a hug as he can to compensate for leaving. “You have fun and listen to Erica, alright?” 

“Alright!” she says as she tries to hug him back just as hard. When he puts her down she waves excitedly and then runs inside. 

“Thanks again for having her over on such short notice. I have a few errands I need to run and I just realized I haven’t actually had time to myself in like, four weeks.” He rubs the back of his neck; this is not how he expected he’d be spending his life at 28 when he was younger.

“It’s no problem, really! James keeps talking about how cool Lia is, actually. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a little crush on her. But yeah go! Have fun! Run errands! Do the adult stuff! Lia can stay for dinner tonight if you want, so just call me when you plan to come get her.” 

“That sounds perfect.” Derek starts to walk back to the car. “Thank you again, really thank you. I promise to pay you back. Maybe I’ll sub for you!” They both laugh at that as he ducks back into the car. He heads home with one intention: making brownies.

xxx

Not that it’s something he brags about, mostly because Derek isn’t one to brag about anything, but his brownies are always amazing. He can’t say the same for his cookies or cupcakes, but when he makes brownies he makes them well. He makes three batches: one for the animal control office, one for the sheriff’s department, half of a batch for the sheriff himself, and half of a batch for home. He does feel really terrible about waking up the sheriff the night before, but he figures this is also a good chance to get on the man’s good side. The local police force in his old town never got along with Derek, being his family affairs were often the center of police business. He wants the opposite of that here. 

The animal control officers are a little confused at the sight of brownies, but gladly accept upon smelling the brownies.

The entire police station seems to swarm the minute the word “brownies” is uttered. 

Well, the entire station except the sheriff. The deputy sheriff comes out to the lobby to thank Derek. “This is all because you woke up the old man last night?” Derek nod and she laughs. “In that case I hope he has to run out of bed every night, these look delicious. Thank you, son.”

“I uh, have some extra brownies specifically for him, actually, do you know when he’ll be back or should I just leave them on his desk?” Derek hasn’t been called “son” by someone in years and is a bit put off by it.

“Oh no, he’s taking the next two days off, and if you leave those here they won’t be around when he comes back. You should just drop them off at his house; I’m positive he’s just sitting at home watching a game.”

“That wouldn’t be, I don’t know, weird for me to show up at his front door?”

“He showed up at your door last night, didn’t he? You’ll be doing the same except you’ll be doing one better with those brownies. Just tell him Tara Graeme sent you.” She gives Derek a big smile and proceeds to write down the sheriff’s address. She even doodles some directions on the side of the paper. Reluctantly, Derek takes it and heads out.

xxx

The house Derek pulls in front of is a bit smaller than his, but the front yard is much more alive with flowers and trimmings. He didn’t think of the sheriff as a gardener when he met him, but he or someone he lives with is apparently kind of good at it.

He knocks on the door apprehensively, still feeling weird about going to the man’s house. There’s a muffled “Be right there!” from inside. When the sheriff opens the door he’s in such a ridiculous Hawaiian shirt that Derek has to choke back a laugh.

“Oh! Derek from last night’s wolf watch, right? Wasn’t expecting you.” The sheriff doesn’t seem upset with Derek’s presence as he extends his hand out to Derek, which is relieving.

“Yeah, sorry for dropping in on you, Tara at the station suggested I drop these off here with you.” He hands out his glorious brownies to the sheriff. “I felt really bad that everyone was woken up so early this morning so I made some for the station and some on the side just for you and uh, they told me these wouldn’t last at the station so…”

He takes the plate of goodies immediately. “Wow, no this is a great surprise, trust me. Normally when people come to my home after some police business it is _not_ to give me baked goods.” Derek can tell that the man is pondering something for a moment. “Hey, why don’t you come in and I’ll get you a drink. It’s the least I can do since you brought me these. My son’s got a sweet tooth. I’m sure the minute he smells them he’ll be thanking you, too.”

Derek remembers one of his goals here was to be liked by the sheriff, and he feels too rude to turn him down anyway. “Sure, I have some time to come in, thanks.”

The inside of the house is a lot more like what Derek expected of the sheriff. There are some fishing reels in the corner of the living room, modest but comfortable furniture, and a baseball game is on the TV.

“You have a preference on beer?” Comes from the kitchen.

“No sir, whatever you have will be fine.” Derek isn’t much of a drinker in the first place, but he can stomach at least one of anything the sheriff brings out.

The two men sit and watch the game on screen for a while, which Derek finds rather comforting. He loves baseball, even played it back in high school and almost in college, but doesn’t have that type of time any more now that Lia’s around. It’s nice having the ability to talk to someone about something as fun and simple as major league baseball. They talk about the game and the league in general for about forty-five minutes when Derek gets up to use the bathroom.

Derek is walking down the hall back toward the living room when he hears some music coming from outside. He turns to see the back door opened and takes a step to look outside, hoping the sheriff didn’t just leave his house open when there’s a wolf on the loose. 

The sight is more shocking than a wolf, however, because when Derek turns the corner he sees Stiles sitting on a deck chair, guitar in hand, and singing.

_“And that I'll fight my corner,_  
 _Maybe tonight I'll call ya,_  
 _After my blood turns into alcohol,_  
 _No, I just wanna hold ya.”_

 

Suddenly he remembers the sheriff introducing himself as Stilinski and everything makes sense. 

Derek is completely blown away. He wasn’t expecting to see Stiles, sure, but he’s mostly taken back at how good he is. Derek doesn’t want to be awkwardly watching Stiles from the doorway, but he’s too stunned by the way Stiles’ voice belts out each word with such passion. He definitely feels like he’s not supposed to be here, like he’s walking in on someone’s person bubble, but he can’t find it in his head to leave. 

About halfway through what Derek can only assume is the second chorus, he finds feeling in his legs and tries to walk back into the house. Which is exactly when Stiles stops playing.

“Dad?” He says as he turns toward Derek. _Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck._

There is no way to get out of this without it being awkward, so Derek just goes for it. “Uh, no. Derek. Hey Stiles.”

“Woah. Uh, hey Derek. Definitely wasn’t expecting you.” Derek can see the blush quickly consume Stiles’ face, which makes him smile but also reminds him how invasive he just was. “Not that I’m not glad to hear you but uh, why are you on my dad’s back porch?” He places the guitar on the table next to him. 

“Yeah sorry for dropping in on you like this. I came over to thank the sheriff – well your dad, as I now realize – for helping me out last night. There was a wolf sighting, long story. But uh, yeah, he invited me in. I should have made that connection.” Derek rubs his hands together, still feeling out of his depths.

Stiles gives a good laugh. “You didn’t think two people in the same town with the last name _“Stilinski”_ were related? I hope you feel ashamed and incredibly awkward.”

He does. “I do I do, trust me.”

Sheriff comes out now looking for where Derek went off to. “Ah, Derek there you are. I see you’ve met my son, Stiles.”

“Even you call him Stiles?” Clearly he wasn’t lying when they first met.

“Yeah, his mother insisted on an old Polish family name for him, but he couldn’t pronounce it until he was seven and sometimes I still don’t think I’ve got it right.” Both of the Stilinskis laugh at that. “Alright, now that I know you didn’t get lost, I’ma head back to the game.”

The sheriff leaves and Derek fears it’ll be awkward between him and Stiles. He thinks about going back inside when Stiles broaches the subject. “So I didn’t completely scare you off with my butchering of that song, right?”

“What? No no it was, it was actually really good. What song was that? Did you write it?”

Stiles’ expression has Derek feeling sufficiently more awkward.

“Did I write that? Dude that was Ed Sheeran! [Give Me Love](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOjdXSrtUxA&feature=kp)? Oh my god you seriously never turn on the radio do you?” He rubs his hands underneath his glasses in mock distress.

“Hey! I’ve listened to your radio shows the last two Saturdays thank you very much so I’m trying to make some progress here.” Derek half wishes he didn’t admit that to Stiles right then.

Stiles perks up. “Oh _really?_ So you’re a regular now? Good to hear.” He gives Derek the cockiest smile he can imagine. Derek fully wishes he didn’t admit to anything. “Here, take a seat next to your favorite radio personality and tell me how amazing I am at my job.” 

He feels embarrassed and a little out of place, but for some reason he can’t explain, Derek goes and sits down next to Stiles. “I’m not feeding your ego.” Thankfully he has a little snark left in him.

“Ha, that’s fine, we can just talk.”

And they do.

For two hours. About Stiles learning how to play guitar and holding onto that after going blind. About living next door to his dad and having a connecting back yard. About Derek leaving Malia at Erica’s for her first play-date in what must be years. About everything.

Derek calls Erica to tell her he’ll be over shortly for Lia, and Stiles offers up his phone number. “It’s not fair that you have her number over mine when I’m the one who introduced you.” He smiles widely at him. “You can text me about how wonderful my DJing is when you’re listening and I’ll have my assistant read them on air.” His smile is even cheekier now, and Derek can’t tell if he’s annoyed or amused by it. He settles on both. 

He says good bye to Stiles and then to the sheriff, drives to get Malia and says goodbye to Erica and James. 

When he finally gets home he realizes that today was one of the better days he’s had in a long time. And he’s eagerly awaiting more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for phone numbers and new characters!  
> Hope this chapter was fun for ya'll, it took ages to write for some reason. 
> 
> Fun fact: Two Door Cinema Club was on the record label Kitsune for a while. Yeah that's right I'm making round-about tie ins to Teen Wolf!
> 
> As always, if you liked this or have a comment feel free to tell me here or over at karlarado.tumblr.com
> 
> Karla out!


	5. Everything's in Order in a Black Hole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Look who hasn't forgotten about writing this! Me!  
> So post-college life is very demanding with adult-stuff and it has greatly distracted me from writing this, but gah did I want to, so sorry for the delay. I'm trash I am aware. Hopefully the next few chapters make up for it!
> 
> Trigger Warning: Mentions of neglect and suicide. Towards the end if you want to skip it. 
> 
> Lastly, the title of this chapter is from [Fluorescent Adolescent](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma9I9VBKPiw&feature=kp) by Arctic Monkeys, who I'm seeing tonight and am SO pumped.  
> Update: The concert was amazing and if you can see them I suggest you do. Alex Turner oozes sex appeal and rock and roll like no other oh my god.

Derek’s never been fond of doing laundry, but a single parent’s gotta do what a single parent’s gotta do.

He grabs the detergent and carefully measures it out to a fourth of a cup. The first few times he did his laundry at college he made the machines shake; now that he actually owns the washing machine he doesn’t want to break it. Derek turns the knob to the correct setting and can just barely hear Stiles’ voice over the sudden rumble of water. He runs to his computer to turn up the volume before he gets to work on folding.

“And that was everyone’s favorite song, [Do I Wanna Know?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpOSxM0rNPM&feature=kp)  
off of the new Arctic Monkeys’ album AM. Which, if that doesn’t make you want to wear leather and make out with someone then I don’t know what’s wrong with you.”

Derek almost drops a hanger. Stiles’ radio persona is basically how Stiles is in person but… _amplified_ and sometimes it throws Derek off.

He remembers that he possesses the means to text Stiles, and that he was even encouraged to do so, so Derek brings out his phone. He has no problem opening a new message and entering in Stiles as the contact. He _does_ have some trouble trying to figure out what to say. 

“Next up is one of everyone’s favorite songs for summer. Here’s [Closer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e9NSMY8QiQ&feature=kp) by Tegan and Sara. Enjoy.”

The song isn’t nearly as…alluring…as the last one, but it’s just as suggestive. It gives Derek a good idea on what to text.

[Derek]: Does everything you play today have to be so sexual? Not good chore music, Stiles.

He hits send and wants to regret it. _Was that a weird thing to say to a friend?_ Derek tries to convince himself he could have said something far weirder and goes back to folding the dry clothes. 

He’s halfway through folding the towels when the song ends and Stiles comes back on.

“So during that last song I got a text from a loyal new listener. Isaac, mind reading it out for everyone to hear?”

Derek finds himself remembering Stiles saying he would read out texts, but he didn’t think it was all that serious.

A different voice comes from the speakers just then. “Yeah! The text reads _‘Does everything you play today have to be so sexual?’_ What do you have to say for yourself, Styles?”

There’s a laugh then which is distinctly Stiles. “To that I say, enjoy this next song and all of the sexuality that comes with it!”

Derek looks at the computer screen to see the song details as it starts playing. It reads “The Kooks – [Do You Wanna.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSJTTiJJ654)” He can feel his face heating up even though his name was kept out of everything and no one is around him. Derek rubs his face and turns back to the towels when his phone buzzes.

[Stiles]: Hey Derek, this is Isaac. Stiles wants me to text you that he’s sorry he’s ruining your chores…but then he did this weird wink thing afterward so I don’t actually think he’s all that sorry. I felt like you needed to know about that second part. Enjoy the rest of the show.

Derek is…confused to say the least, and he definitely still feels flustered. He puts the phone down and decides not to text anyone for a while and solely focuses on his chores.

Some thirty minutes later he finishes tidying the living room and comes back into the laundry room to shut off the radio. Derek catches the tail end of something Stiles sounds very excited about. “ - next week! Everyone’s favorite sports star! Be sure to tune in for this exclusive.” 

Derek hits the “Pause” button. He’ll have to ask Stiles what all the fuss is about tomorrow.

xxx

Derek is almost positive he has never seen Stiles flail his arms around as much as he’s doing now as he _almost_ shouts. “Scott’s the guest star! _Scott McCall_? Huge lacrosse star? One of the best players in the NLL? Really? Alright, I’m only kind of offended you didn’t listen to the whole show yesterday but I’m _mostly_ offended that you know absolutely nothing about lacrosse. How have you never heard of Scott McCall?” 

“I uh, guess I was more of a baseball kid growing up? Stiles, literally no one I know knows what lacrosse is, well, except for the people I know now because apparently the whole town is fucking nuts for it. Just, calm down and walk me through this. Who is Scott McCall and is he really that good?” Derek rubs the back of his neck a bit too hard. He thinks everything Stiles is saying is light hearted, but he feels he can never get a true read on him.

Stiles shakes his head and laughs a few times before answering. “Alright, that’s it. You’re invited.” He waves his arms as some sort of grand gesture and stretches them out on the back of the bench. 

Derek was a bit confused before, but now he’s completely lost. “I’m invited to what?”

“I’m having a party after the show on Saturday. Scott will be there. Other lacrosse people will be there. You’re invited because you desperately need to get more involved in the sport/on the McCall train.” Stiles tilts his chin up and gives Derek a ridiculous grin. 

Derek has nearly a hundred questions and concerns run through his mind at once from that statement. He settles on asking the most confusing one first. “Wait, so you’re just inviting some huge sports star over to your house? Is that a normal radio host thing to do or…?”

“Oh…OH…dude I’m sorry I forgot you haven’t known me like, forever or know my whole life story. Scott’s my best friend. He’s from Beacon Hills. His mom still cooks me dinner every other week and Scott always crashes at my place when he’s back in town. It’s a ‘welcome home’ party.”

Derek shouldn’t be surprised. Stiles would have a super star as a best friend and forget to mention it. “Do you really think I should go to a welcome home party if I don’t know the guy though? I don’t want to impose…and again I have no clue about lacrosse and don’t want to offend him or something.”

“No no that’s perfect. Kid has no ego what-so-ever. I have enough of that for the both of us, so he won’t mind. But you should totally come and meet him. Plus a lot our other friends will be there. It’ll be a nice time out.” That elusive wink appears from under Stiles’ sunglasses.

Derek has never been good at parties. In the last five years he’s been to exactly one party and hated every minute of it. Despite his gut instinct to politely decline, he finds himself asking Stiles more questions…as if he really wants to go.

“So it’s at your house?” He feels kind of excited about seeing how Stiles lives and what his house is like.

“Yup! Just drive to my dad’s house, but go to the house with the rusty blue jeep in the drive instead.”

“I haven’t agreed to come yet, Stiles.” It comes out a little more sternly than Derek was going for, but he definitely isn’t committing to this just yet. At least not until he’s asked a few more questions. “So, how many people will be there?”

“Well, the pack is getting back together, so that’s the seven of us. FYI Erica and Boyd are in said pack so you _will_ know people there. Everyone else is amazing and will probably love you. Uh besides that, like half of the old Beacon Hills High lacrosse team and then any other people that tag along. Which, admittedly is a bit bigger than I’d like but, hey, it’s for Scott.” He offers up a cheery grin towards Derek.

More than ten people is a lot for Derek. He can handle the large class sizes when he teaches and is in control, but a good deal of people in one house always gets him anxious. Despite that usual unease, Derek finds himself still wanting to go. Then he realizes a concrete reason why he can’t. “Malia.”

“Ah, good point.” Stiles turns to face the playground almost like he is instinctively searching for her. He twiddles his thumbs a little before continuing. “She can spend the evening with my dad, I mean if that’s alright with you guys. He’s actually already watching James for Erica and Boyd so I doubt he’d mind.” 

It’s sweet, how much Stiles wants Derek to come over and have a good time. And it’s weird how much he wants to take Stiles up on spending an evening out without his daughter, but he knows better than to just agree.

“I uh, listen Stiles, I really do want to come to your party and get thoroughly educated in a sport I don’t watch –” Stiles laughs at that part, and Derek has to laugh at it, too. “– but Lia’s not the best with older men, especially strange older men. And I know that your dad’s super nice and I really like him, I just don’t know how she’d react to me dropping her off at a strange house…even if James is there.” He rubs the back of his neck again, the letdown look on Stiles’ face making him feel more guilty than normal.

Stiles is quiet for a moment, which is unusual. “Alright, you have some legitimate fears here, and I understand that, so my next idea is just an idea, you don’t have to agree to it or anything. You ready?”

“Uh, yeah sure, I’m ready.” Derek’s definitely a tad skeptical on where this is going.

Stiles smiles at Derek again but more sheepish than before. “You and Lia should come over to his house for dinner with us on Thursday. With permission from Malia of course. That way she can get to know my dad a little better and can see that you’ll be right next-door if she needs you. Plus you get to have some food grilled for you by the Stilinski’s, so it’s a win for you.” 

It isn’t what Derek was expecting, but he isn’t too sure what he was expecting. “You’re inviting me over for dinner?”

“Ha, no I’m inviting you _and Malia_ over for dinner. With my dad. I think it’s a genius plan and by default I am a genius.” This grin is a lot more like the one Derek is used to. 

“It’s definitely not a bad plan…” Derek hopes Stiles can hear the smirk in his voice. “I’ll ask Lia.”

“So…if this all goes over well…then you’ll come over Saturday? “ Stiles nudges him in the shoulder.

“Ha, we’ll see how this goes first, Stiles.” 

Derek turns his attention to his daughter, who’s on the swing set and, shockingly to Derek, is talking to another little girl as she swings. “Malia! Can you come over here for a minute?”

They wait patiently as she jogs over to the bench as fast as her short strides can take her. “Hi Daddy!”

“Hey angel. We’ve got two questions for you. First, who’s the girl you were swinging with?” It’s not the reason he called her over of course, but Lia being easily sociable is the main thing on Derek’s mind.

Malia smiles at her father. “Oh, that’s Kate. She’s reeeeally nice and she’s a whole grade above me and goes to the school here and said it’s really fun and she’s so nice!” She’s almost out of breath by the time she stops talking and Stiles gives a laugh at that. 

Derek’s definitely a little shocked, but he’s happy above anything that she’s talking to people. “That’s great to hear then, and she does sound _very_ nice. You can go back to swinging with Kate in one minute but first Stiles has a question for you.” 

“You’re making me do this? A+ parenting Derek.” Stiles nudges him again before turning his head down towards Lia’s voice. “Alright Malia, your dad and I have an idea but we need your permission first. Would you like to come over to my daddy’s house and have dinner on Thursday? I’ll be there and so will your daddy.” He turns back to Derek then. “Did I do good?”

Derek laughs at the look Stiles gives him and picks up Lia. “How does that sound to you Malia? I’ve already met Stiles’ dad and he’s nice. I like him a lot, but I want to make sure you won’t mind.”

Lia looks less distressed than Derek was fearing she’d be, but she still sits quietly for a moment before answering. “He’s nicer than Peter?”

That’s what Derek _was_ afraid of, but not as much anymore. When she turns her head up to look at him, Derek doesn’t see any trace of fear, but instead a very mature concern in her face. “He’s so much nicer than Peter, I promise. Plus I’ll be there the whole time.”

She doesn’t take long to process what Derek says and gives a small nod. “I believe you, Daddy.” She turns her attention to Stiles. “What are we having for dinner?”

Derek isn’t surprised, but her concern over food amuses Stiles. “Most likely hamburgers – if you like hamburgers, that is.”

Her eyes light up a bit. “I like cheeseburgers, a lot, so have some cheeseburgers!”

Derek bounces her up on his lap. “Lia, manners.”

“Oh, sorry Stiles. Have some cheeseburgers _please_.”

“Ha, I’ll be sure to have loads of cheeseburgers for you Malia, no worries.”

Derek picks her up off his lap and sets her back on the ground. “We’re gonna be leaving soon Lia, so go play a little longer with Kate and I’ll come and get you.”

She nods to her father and runs eagerly back towards the swing-set. 

Derek turns his attention back to the man sitting next to him. “So you’re sure your dad won’t mind having us for dinner?”

A huge grin creeps across Stiles’ face. “Definitely. He had a good time when you were over the other day and he loves kids, trust me it’ll be fine.” He grabs hold of Derek’s right shoulder and squeezes it in reassurance. 

Stiles’ phone starts playing music loudly and he accidently squeezes Derek’s shoulder harder than planned. He quickly takes his hand away and tries to shut off the phone. “God I’m so sorry. My own alarm shouldn’t scare me. Are you ok? Did I hurt you?”

It’s Derek’s turn to crack a big grin. Stiles isn’t scrawny or anything; he looks like he’s lean and a little muscular from what Derek can see. Derek, however, is definitely more muscular than Stiles could even hope to be, so squeezing his shoulder barely even fazed him.

“I’m fine Stiles, don’t worry. My shoulders can take your hands.” That sounded less awkward in his head.

“Ha, good to know then. Alright, Starbuck and I are off to work. I’ll text you the details for dinner later. Bye Derek.” He waves at Derek before turning on his heels and walking off with Starbuck. 

Derek waves back. Then promptly facepalms.

xxx

Tuesday afternoon Derek’s phone buzzes.

[Stiles]: Hey Derek! You and Malia should come to my dad’s at 6 on Thursday. He says not to bring anything but I want to force you to bring your brownies. They were delicious and you are a god.

Derek blushes down in to his phone a little. ‘A god’ is a new one. 

He can’t let down his fans. Derek figures tomorrow he can make Malia’s day by baking together. 

Xxx

When Derek knocks on the sheriff’s door he realizes he feels more nervous than Malia looks. His hand is slightly shaking when he pulls it back from the wood, but the brownie tin in Malia’s hands is steady. He’s always looked out for her, hated how scared she would look in the mornings before school, but now she probably looks better than him. Why is he the one feeling nervous?

The door swings open to show the sheriff. “Evening Derek.” He gives Derek a smile and turns his attention down to Lia. “And you must be Malia! Stiles had a lot of nice things to say about you the last few days. He’s inside with Starbuck. I bet she’s going to be really happy you’re here. Wanna come in and see her?”

Derek looks down towards his daughter, who’s wearing a smile as she lets out a “Yes please!”

He puts a hand on her back to have her lead the way. 

The house hasn’t changed from the last week besides the added smell of hamburgers. Starbuck and Stiles are also on the couch, which is different. Malia runs over to them and sticks a hand out for Starbuck to smell, but her nose goes to the tin that Lia is holding. 

“Woah there!” Derek reaches over her and takes the tin away. “No brownies for you, Starbuck, sorry.”

Starbuck almost looks disappointed. 

Stiles definitely does not. “Oh my god you actually made the brownies? That’s it. You’re my favorite. I don’t know what, but you’re my favorite.” Stiles stands up and points toward the hallway. “You can put your deliciousness in the kitchen counter. Starbuck knows better than to get food from there.”

Stiles turns back around to Malia. “Hey there! Glad you could make it.” Stiles reaches out for a hug, which for some reason surprises Derek. Malia eagerly accepts the gesture and steps into his reach. 

When he pulls back Stiles starts a conversation with her. “So, Lia, did you help your daddy make those brownies I just heard about?”

Derek figures he can leave them be for a moment. Malia really likes Stiles; she gets as excited to see him at the park as she does Starbuck. Derek feels the need to help with the food, so he heads to the porch where the sheriff presumably went.

He gets to the doorway to see Mr. Stilinski taking the burgers off the grill and onto a plate. “You need any help here?”

The sheriff doesn’t turn around but responds. “Hey Derek, yeah that’d be great thanks. If you could carry one of these plates into the dining room.” 

Derek looks over to see a plate of hotdogs next to the burgers and picks them up. The sheriff turns off the gas and picks up the other plate, following Derek inside. 

The Stilinski’s have already set up everything for the meal, Derek notes. There are all the toppings and condiments nicely set out on the dining room table, including a big pile of cheese slices he knows Malia will love seeing. 

“Does it matter where I put this, sir?”

“Sir? Ha.” The sheriff turns his head towards the living room and shouts. “He calls me ‘sir,’ I like this one.” He turns back to Derek to answer him. “Anywhere works for me, Derek, we Stilinski’s are not a picky people.” 

“Food’s ready!” Sheriff says in a slightly louder voice.

Derek can hear a tiny ‘yay’ come from the other room and chuckles at his daughter. 

When she comes in, she’s leading Stiles by the hand and smiling. “I’m helping!” she says excitedly.

Stiles gives a big smile. “Yes you are Lia, and you’re doing great! Can you help me over to the seat near all the picture frames?” Lia looks around the table and then gently pulls him along. 

Malia sits down in the chair to his left, so Derek sits across from her and to Stiles right. Mr. Stilinski calls from the kitchen asking about drinks, to which the whole table responds “Water.”

“You’ve got quite the daughter, Derek. She _insisted_ she take over for Starbuck and guide me here. She should definitely get first dibs on the burgers.” Stiles scrunches up his face in an exaggerated smile to Derek.

“Ha, alright then, Lia, pick your favorite burger. The buns and cheese are to your left when you’re ready.” Derek scoots one of the plates with the burgers closer to her so her shorter arms can reach.

She eagerly stabs one of the patties with her fork. “Thank you Stiles! And thank you Daddy!” 

The sheriff comes in with four glasses and a pitcher of water and pours everyone a glass before sitting down. “So,” he says, “Malia, Derek, how has Beacon Hills been treating you?”

Derek answers first as he reaches to get the ketchup. “It’s been really nice. Lia’s made some new friends before the school year’s even started; the neighborhood is safe and, uh, aesthetically pleasing. But yeah, it’s been treating us pretty good so far.”

“Everybody’s nice!” Malia says as she finishes a bite of her burger. “I’ve met lots of people at the park and they’re all awesome!”

“Like me?” Stiles asks a bit cheekily. 

Her mouth is mostly full but she answers anyway. “Mhm! Stiles is so cool, isn’t he Daddy? And so is Starbuck!”

Derek wasn’t expecting to be put on the spot, but he can handle it. “Well Starbuck definitely is.” He can feel Stiles try to kick him under the table a few times before he actually makes contact. He’s smiling, though, so Derek knows it’s ok.

They eat in silence for a few minutes before Derek brings up the true topic of dinner. “Hey Lia, you know how you said everyone you’ve met at the park is really nice?” He waits for her to nod. “Well, Stiles invited me to spend some time with his friends this weekend, but someone would need to watch you. Mr. Stilinski said that he wouldn’t mind watching you for a couple of hours. And the fun part is, James is gonna be here the whole time. Mr. Stilinski has watched him before and he and James get along really well. So you can hang out with someone nice that you know from the park.”

Derek watches as Malia chews her food a bit slower as she contemplates what he just said. He feels the need to clarify. “You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to. I wanna make you happy, so it’s completely up to you. But if it would make you feel any better, Stiles lives next door so I can come over and see you whenever you would need me. Erica could, too.”

She finishes chewing before she answers. “James thinks Mr. S is nice?”

Derek nods. “Yes he does, and I think he’s very nice, too.”

Stiles interjects as he puts down his almost-gone-burger. “My dad is actually the sheriff in Beacon Hills, Lia, so it’s his job to be super nice and very safe. And I think he’s very good at it.”

That clearly gets Malia’s attention. “ _You’re_ the sheriff?” 

“I am.” Mr. Stilinski finally chimes in. “I’ve got a badge and everything.” He smiles as sincerely as he can towards her. 

“That’s really cool!” She looks pretty excited, which Derek is glad about. “I’m glad my daddy likes you, he didn’t like the sheriff in our old town. And the sheriff didn’t like him either. He would always glare at my daddy when he would come over and –”

Derek left out a cough. “Lia…”

“Oh, sorry Daddy.” Malia took the last bite of her burger. She turns her attention back to the sheriff and luckily breaks the suddenly very present silence. “Do you have your own police car?”

Mr. Stilinski lets out a laugh. “I do! It’s in the garage right now. Maybe this weekend you and James can look at it.” 

“That’d be so cool!” She reaches for her glass of water and needs both hands to hold the big cup and drink from it. “Do you get to arrest people a lot like in books and TV?”

Now everyone at the table lets out a laugh. Malia’s just so excited and it’s slightly infectious. 

“I don’t arrest that many people, since people here are so nice. But sometimes I do have to do that. I’ve got two sets of handcuffs just in case.”

“Wow!” She starts eating the chips on her plate with a smile still on her face.

They eat in silence again for a while until Malia begins asking the sheriff more questions. Derek feels bad that she’s bombarding him, but the sheriff looks happy to be talking to Lia, so he tries to let it go. 

Stiles shifts in his chair. “I’m gonna take some of the dishes to the kitchen. Derek, can you help make sure I don’t die on the way there?” His usual smile appears.

Of course Derek wants to help, but he suddenly realizes he’s never had to help Stiles in the time he’s known him. They always seem to be sitting down and when Stiles gets up it’s in a big open park. This is a 13x16 dining room, and dishes are involved. He answers the best way he can. “Yeah, how can I help?”

“If you could stack some of the plates and hand them to me. Just enough for one hand though. And then you get the rest of the stuff we’re done with.” 

Derek does just that while Stiles rises out of his chair. Stiles extends an arm out and Derek places the plates there. “Thaaank you.” Stiles says as he starts to walk toward the kitchen with his free arm out near the wall. He touches it every foot or so until it stops, then puts it back out when the next wall approaches. Derek follows behind.

They get to the kitchen and Stiles places his dishes gently in the sink. “You can just put the refrigerated items anywhere in there. My dad doesn’t have much of an order. The dishes can just go in the sink for now. I’m sure he won’t mind.” Derek does as instructed.

He finishes putting the mustard in the fridge. “Done. Anything else you want to instruct me to do?” He says it in a way he hopes Stiles knows is jokingly.

“Ha. Yeah actually there is one thing: Tell me the deets on this sheriff encounter Malia doesn’t know not to talk about.”

Derek almost forgets to close the fridge. He instinctively just responds with “Uhh…”

“Oh, dude sorry if it’s serious you don’t have to say anything, obviously. I’m just the sheriff’s kid and like, have always known everyone’s police business I forget it’s not normal and oh my god I’m so sorry.” Stiles is visibly distressed.

Derek rubs the back of his neck and crosses the room to be nearer to Stiles. “No, it’s fine, just took me off guard is all. I, um, well now I feel like I need to tell you guys so you and your dad don’t think I’m some secret axe murderer or something…”

“Are you actually a just a regular murderer with knives and shit? An axe feels a little excessive for you.” Stiles smiles at his joke but Derek can see he’s still feeling guilty. 

“I’m not any type of murderer, for starters.” He says it in as cheerful of a voice as he can muster. He doesn’t want Stiles feeling bad around him, even if he was invasive. He lets out a breath. “Alright, I’m gonna tell you this one step at a time, and maybe if you can explain it to your dad later so that he doesn’t think my family’s some sort of trouble.”

“Yeah, of course Derek.”

“Ah. Ok. I’m gonna clear the air now.” He breathes in again and lowers his voice some. “I’m not Malia’s real dad.” 

He was hoping that once they’d moved away he would never have to explain this story. Derek wasn’t expecting to form any friendships with people here. Certainly not one he felt so good about like the one he has with Stiles. Of course he feels scared while telling Stiles this, and for the explanation that will follow, but he also feels a bit relieved. Like he was being burdened by hiding something from someone he already legitimately cares about.

Stiles definitely looks surprise as he lets out a small “Oh.”

“Yeah. Long and terrible story short: Malia is technically my cousin. But her father got hurt when she was really young…and her mother is gone but wasn’t in the picture before that anyway, so she was under my care for a long time. When her dad got better, I had to give her back to him. Which fucking sucked you know, since at that point I’d basically raised her? And, I guess he just wasn’t right after the accident. Something in him just snapped. He uh, I don’t know how to say this delicately.”

“Take your time.” Stiles let out, reaching around until his hand found its way to Derek’s arm.

“He just kinda, neglected her, like he forgot he had a child or something. He’d forget to feed her sometimes or help her change her clothes, normal parent stuff like that.” God why is he telling this to Stiles? He likes Stiles. He’s been a really good friend to him since the moment they moved here. Derek’s mind is telling him he’s going to scare away the friendship but his gut is telling him to go on. 

He clears his throat before beginning again. “One day Peter uh, just randomly dropped her off at my place. He had this cold look in his eye and it scared me so much I just grabbed Malia and took her inside. I probably should have asked or talked to him more but he just terrified me and I needed to get her away from him. It uh, are you positive you want to hear this?”

Stiles squeezed his arm. “Only if you want me to. You can wait. Or you can never tell me. I’d completely understand.”

“I’ve already gotten this far I guess…it just feels so strange having to explain this to someone. Everyone in our old town knew about everything, so I’ve never really had to tell the whole story…people would just side eye me and they’d already know.” 

He thinks about that for a second. Maybe explaining himself would be awkward and scary, but maybe, hopefully, Stiles would react differently than those people back home, who thought they already knew Derek and Malia from the gossip mill. Maybe letting it all out to somebody new, somebody he trusts, wouldn’t be the same. Maybe it’d be better.

“Peter killed himself later that day. I won’t tell you the details on that. No one else in the world needs to think of it. But he did leave a note. And all it said was “ _I can’t do this_.” There was a whole lot about our family that just…wasn’t good, and I guess it all caught up to him. Then I was the only one left for Malia. And she was the only one really left for me. So I was able to officially adopt her, but I’ve always been her dad, really, since she was living with me for most of her life. She knows I’m not technically her daddy, but she doesn’t seem to care at all, as you can tell. Honestly, she’s the bravest little girl in the world.”

Stiles is silent for a minute. Which would be scaring Derek if not for the hand that is still firmly grasping his upper arm. “So that’s why you were afraid of her reaction to being left with my dad. Oh god Derek, if any of this was too hard for you I’m so sorry, that was totally not my intent.”

Derek thinks about it for a second. He can hear Lia and the sheriff in the other room still chatting away. Mr. Stilinski is really nice; he shouldn’t have been that worried. “No, Stiles it’s completely alright. She sounds like she fucking loves your dad.” He pauses for a second. “I swear too much when I’m around you. I’m supposed to be a stand up father.” They both let out a small laugh at that.

“Well, Mr. Hale, it sounds like you’ve been doing an amazing job at that. Like, really fucking-I-don’t-know-how-you-got-through-any-of-it amazing. You deserve the occasional swear for all of your hard work.” He gives Derek a sincere smile, and Derek definitely doesn’t feel terrible about telling Stiles the truth.

“Yeah well, hopefully your dad thinks so, too. The problem with the other sheriff is that he was like, constantly afraid I was Peter. He would check in on us all of the time without a warning or, you know, a warrant. He just assumed that because we were related I’d neglect Lia, too, even though he _knew_ I had raised her previous to that. I uh, actually baked those brownies for your dad as a thank you, but also to be sure I was on this sheriff’s good side.”

Stiles lets out a huge laugh, then tries to muffle with the hand that was gripping Derek to not startle the people in the other room. “You were bribing my dad with baked goods? Oh my god, you’re lucky they’re godly otherwise it would never work.”

Derek can’t help but smile. He told someone Malia’s tragic backstory, and now they’re laughing with each other. Having Stiles as a friend feels like it’s just what he needed. “They’re not _godly_. I just have an old family recipe made to perfection.” He is pretty proud of them, though.

“Well I definitely want in on that family recipe. Oh! Dude! You can make them for the welcome home party in a few days! Everyone will forget about Scott if they’re there. Oh, I mean, if you think you can go. That was the whole point of tonight’s shindig anyway…”

God, that _is_ the reason he’s even in this kitchen with Stiles right now. He’d completely forgotten. He listens in a little to his daughter talking in the other room. She definitely sounds happy, and Derek trusts Mr. Stilinski fully. And Derek really wants to spend more time with Stiles…

“I’ll be there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Party.  
> If you have any comments or concerns (or hatemail for taking so long) drop a line below or at karlarado.tumblr.com!


	6. Where Did the Party Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back from the grave! Seriously I will apologize a million times for how long this took me to update. I could fill this with a thousand excuses but ya'll don't care about that, so just try n accept how sorry I am for being trash. I'll try to make it up to you.
> 
> The chapter title comes from the title of a Fall Out Boy song [Where Did the Party Go](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9hESWfeXG0).

Derek is reading to Malia when his phone buzzes. He decides to wait until after they finish the story to look at it. He’s never been a big texter, but he’s not going to let his new-found friendships interrupt his parenting.

Malia is tuckered out by the time they finish _Tito Puente, Mambo King_ , so Derek puts her to sleep. By the time he picks up a phone, it has been an hour since he got a text.

[Erica]: Hey loser, since Boyd and I have to pass your street to get to Stiles’ I was thinking we could all carpool. Don’t worry my SVU can actually hold everyone unlike your ridiculous car.

He gets a bit sidetracked at that. _Why does everyone hate the Camaro so much?_ His mom loved her old Camaro. It’s a classic car and the new models are pretty safe and…he should probably text her back already.

[Derek]: That sounds good, what time were you thinking of getting there? Wait, when does this party even start?

[Erica]: Well it starts at 9:30 but we were thinking of getting there at 9, so the kids aren’t sleeping before they even get to the sheriff’s. Mind if we pick you up at 8:45?

Lia normally goes to bed by 9:30, so Erica is rather on point with this planning. 

[Derek]: That’s perfect. Thanks for the idea, Erica. I’ll see you guys at 8:45 then.

Derek’s never been one for texting. Hell, he’s never been one for talking to people threw any medium but teaching, but as soon as he tries to end the conversation he realizes he still has something to say.

[Derek]: Oh, Erica, can I uh, ask you a quick question?

[Erica]: Shoot, sport.

[Derek]: What do I wear?

xxx

The group pulls into the sheriff’s drive at 8:55 just on schedule, which doesn’t surprise Derek much with Erica’s fast driving. She kept saying how it was alright because she grew up on these streets and knows all the twists and turns. Boyd kept glancing back to Derek to roll his eyes. Erica kept slapping him.

Mr. Stilinski is opening the front door while everyone is still walking up the drive. 

“Hi Mr. S!” Malia calls out. She waves the hand that isn’t in Derek’s toward him.

“Hello Sheriff!” says James.

Lia’s eyes widen a bit. “Woah, can I call you Sheriff, too?”

They are all on the porch by the time he can answer. “Ha, yes you can Lia.” The sheriff squats down to get eye level with the two kids. “You two can head in to the living room, if you want, I have a couple games laid out in case you’re not tired yet.”

James runs into the house quickly with a loud “yay!” but Malia turns around to face her dad.

“Hope you have a good time, Daddy.”

Derek cracks a big smile and rustles her hair. “Thanks Lia, I hope you have an even better time with James and Mr. Stilinski. Remember I’ll be right next-door if you need me. Now go in and play, and behave yourself, ok?”

Malia hugs him high on his legs. “I will! I love you!” She waves to Erica and Boyd as she turns to run inside.

Once the kids are in the house, Derek sticks out his hand to Mr. Stilinski. “Thanks for watching the –” The sheriff goes in for a hug instead, which Derek definitely isn’t expecting as it takes him a second to reciprocate. “ – kids.”

Mr. Stilinski pulls away and pats him on the shoulder. “It’s no problem at all, Derek.” He then turns toward Erica. “Come ‘er you.”

Erica somehow manages to smile even wider than she was before. “It’s been too long since you’ve babysat for us Mr. S!” The two hug much longer and more comfortably than the hug Derek had just received. “ _And_ since you’ve cooked for us! Apparently Derek’s taken my place at the dinner table?” 

The two pull away but the sheriff leaves a hand on her upper arm. “You know you’re always welcome at my table, more than Stiles actually.” He steps over to Boyd. “And you too, big guy.”

While they hug Derek contemplates how he would have never pegged Mr. Stilinski as the hugging type. He’s not sure how he feels about it; add hugs to the list of things that have never been his thing.

xxx

When they arrive in front of Stiles’ door, Derek can feel himself getting anxious. “You sure this outfit is the normal thing to wear to a homecoming party…for someone you’ve never met?”

“ _That_ tight of a blue Henley is a little too sexy for meeting Scott McCall” Erica smiles, “but you look great. I’m sure you’ll be turning heads.”

“That’s not really what I want to do…”

She gives a sarcastic laugh. “Then you’re gonna have to stop with the rugged model thing you’ve got going on.” 

Derek blushes a bit and can hear Boyd sigh.

“What she _means_ to say is that you look fine. I promise no one here is going to care about what you’re wearing anyway. Well maybe Lydia… Just try to calm down a little, everyone’s really nice, it’ll be a good time.” Boyd gives a very convincing nod as a conclusion. 

“Thank you Boyd, I’m glad one of you knows how to act like an adult.”

He anticipates the punch to his right arm just before it happens.

After Erica is done laughing at Derek’s pain, she knocks on the door, but doesn’t wait for an answer and walks in instead. Boyd follows, then Derek.

They enter into a smaller foyer than Derek’s, and within a few steps they are in a living room. Derek sees Stiles sitting on a couch, walking cane resting along the top of the cushions. 

He also sees Stiles talking with two other people; a _very_ in-shape man sitting on the arm of the same couch and a _very_ pretty woman sitting next to Stiles with her arm around his shoulders. 

Derek feels like he needs to leave.

Erica screams so loudly that Derek almost covers his ears. “SCOTT!” 

The guy sitting on the couch arm gets up with a big smile. He starts walking towards the group of three, but Erica runs over and almost tackles him before he can even leave the sitting area. 

Derek raises an eyebrow at Boyd, who just shakes his head with a smile and walks on over to the furniture. Derek follows again. He realizes he’s playing with the ends of his sleeves and tries to stop.

Stiles leans forward a little on the couch. “You guys are early. Glad you could make it.” He smiles upwards at no one in particular. 

Derek was about to respond but he is too distracted by Erica to his left. 

“Scott McCutie who said it was alright for you to be gone this long?! WE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!” 

She lets go after a few more seconds and the guy who Derek now knows is definitely Scott takes in a breath, probably because Erica was crushing him.

Scott laughs and shakes his hand through his hair. “Hey Erica, I’m sorry I’m sorry… we just kept winning and the season kept going on and I swear I wanted to come home…”

“Yeah yeah just keep reminding us how good you are at lacrosse, McCall.” says Boyd with a big smile.

Scott pouts for half a second then busts out a wide smile and goes to hug Boyd, too.

 _God everyone in this friend group is a hugger._ Derek is playing with his sleeves again and stops, but notices the girl with Stiles eyeing up his motions. Eyeing up him, really. And not in a good way.

He flashes out of his nervousness to realize Scott is now facing him.

“Hey” Scott extends out a hand, “You must be Derek.” Derek reaches out and shakes his hand. “I’m Scott, well you probably already knew that cause of Stiles and uh, the banner.” He does some little laugh and Derek can see why he’s Stiles’ best friend already. Scott’s just a personable guy.

“Nice to officially meet you Scott; Stiles has been telling me how amazing you are, repeatedly.”

“Yeah, he told me a lot about you, too. Failed to mention you were some sort of model or something, though.” Scott flashes a huge and sinister grin. Before Derek can even think of a response he hears Stiles crying out from a few feet besides them.

“GOD. No. Why. Why are you all so horrible?”

Derek turns to see Stiles with his head in his hands and the girl next to him’s face all twisted.

Erica suddenly slings an arm around his shoulder. “I’ve been _trying_ to tell him that Scott, maybe Derek will listen to you.”

His face is most certainly pink. _These people are horrible in the nicest possible way_ , Derek thinks. 

Stiles still has one hand covering his face, but starts gesturing for Derek. “Come, come here and sit with me away from these awful people.” He pats the seat next to him on the big leather couch. 

He gladly accepts the invite.

There’s plenty of room on the couch next to Stiles, which Derek is grateful for as the entire universe suddenly feels like its shrinking, with a focus on him.

Once Derek sits down Stiles speaks again, “I uh, apologize for my friends. They think they’re cool.”

Stiles is trying to smile, but the red in his face is overwhelming. As uncomfortable as Derek feels, he knows he should probably respond with something comforting. “It’s no problem, I mean I talk with Erica I shouldn’t be surprised.” He throws in a smile he hopes Stiles can feel.

It seems to have worked as Stiles smiles back, much more confidently than before, but Derek shifts his glaze to the woman next to Stiles, who’s now leaning into view.

“You don’t have to put up with any of their shit, Derek. Just roll your eyes and walk away. Works every time.”

“She’s right.” Says Stiles, “a good eye roll fixes most problems.” 

The girl extends a hand over Stiles. “Lydia Martin. Nice to meet you.”

“Derek Hale.” He shakes her hand as firmly as she shakes his. “Thank you for not being a hugger.”

“Ha, you better stay on this couch then because we’re the least touchy-feely people in town.”

Xxx

Derek raises an eyebrow “So, what, everyone at your high school played lacrosse?”

“Well technically Erica only played for one game. She punched the referee and coach cut her the next minute.”

Erica is aggressively leaning forward on the back of one of the chairs, eyes piercing at Stiles. “You always tell this story like it was my fault for punching him. _He_ is the one who said ‘Good shot, babe.’ and then winked at me! He was 100% asking for it.”

Stiles folds his arms in protest. Derek is concerned for what he may have started. “He was 100% being a creep and asking for you to tell coach and have him fired, Erica, by punching him you looked like the bad guy instead and coach didn’t believe you.”

“Oh no, Stilinski I am not having this debate with you again. I’m glad I punched him.”

“You can’t fix a person’s sexism by punching it out of them, Erica!”

Derek is about to interject when there is a knock on the door. He looks up at the grandfather clock near the door: 9:45. 

Like Erica, the people on the other side of the door don’t wait for a response, but instead come right in. It’s four other people that were on Stiles and Scott’s high school lacrosse team. _Of course_.

After that it is a pretty steady stream of small groups walking into Stiles’ house, which would stress out Derek any day, but Stiles is having a great time talking to all the people that come over to see him. 

Derek doesn’t know what to do with himself for quite a long time, being he knows no one. After a while of slowly sipping on his drink Erica made him he realizes Lydia isn’t talking to people either and grabs her attention while Stiles is leaning forward to talk to someone.

“Are we the only people in this house that didn’t play lacrosse or do you have something you’d like to tell me.”

She smiles from behind a glass full of blue liquid. “No, I just went to most of the games. I was excellent at cheering, I might add.”

Stiles leans back on the couch and joins the conversation. “I disagree. The first two seasons you were solely there to cheer for Jackson and glare at the rest of us when we messed up. It was intimidating.”

She looks at him through lowered eyebrows. “You were just upset that I was dating Jackson and not you.”

“Also true, but not the point. You only got better when I joined you in the stands junior year. You helped me make signs for everyone, and not just that asshole.” Stiles smirks at her and she slaps him lightly in the arm.

Derek is tugging slightly at his sleeves again. 

Stiles turns toward Derek then. “Hey...” He is about to continue when there’s a small sound of broken glass. He furrows his brow for just a second. “Do I wanna know what that was?”

Derek tries his best to describe what he can see. “Some guy in a really tight jacket and another really beefy guy are like, half fighting?”

Lydia fills in some more details. “Ugh. Alright you’re going to love this, Stiles. It’s Jackson and like, now five guys from the class of 2012’s hockey team. I think Jackson… yeah okay I’m seeing some broken designer sunglasses. Givenchy, I’m assuming. One of them must have run into him and crushed the lenses. Who the hell would bring that nice of sunglasses to a party this late? Except for you, of course. And you definitely can’t afford those.”

“Thanks for that, Lydia.” He takes in a breath. “Okay, lay it on me. How many people are here that you know I invited and how many people are here that I didn’t?”

“I’d say, all of the ones you invited. Save for Allison and Kira. I know what you’re trying to do with that, Stiles, and next time I want in to help.” He smiles at her and Derek is extremely out of the loop. “As for people you didn’t invite...I’d say about 30. For now. It’s still early.”

That’s the last thing Derek can clearly remember hearing. After realizing that the quaint get together had turned into an almost-raging house party, he starts to zone out. He begins to focus in on things he definitely shouldn’t.

Xxx

Derek is snapped back into reality when someone touches his hand.

“Hey,” Stiles’ voice sounds like its coming closer “Derek, you ok?”

His eyelids close firmly together but he can’t find it in him to respond. The hand on top of Derek’s wraps around and tenses.

“Come with me. We need to go to another room.”

Derek opens his eyes to see Stiles standing up, holding onto his hand with a concerned look on his face. He doesn’t really think about it, he just gets up.

Somewhere between getting up and starting to walk Stiles had grabbed his cane and is now tapping at people’s legs that are standing in his way. Derek is amazed at how fluidly Stiles moves in such a crowded place; Stiles really knows his way around his home.

Derek wants to know what’s going on, why Stiles is leading him. In the state he’s in he _needs_ to know, but in the state he’s in he can’t find the words to ask.

“Yeah, way to go Stilinski!” Derek hears someone shout to his right.

Stiles’ hand squeezes tighter around Derek’s when he shouts back. “Fuck off Jackson.” 

Derek can see the muscles in Stiles’ shoulders tense up as he continues walking through the house. He feels slightly better focusing in on someone other than himself, and is increasingly relieved the farther they get from the people and the noise. 

Stiles lets go of his grip on Derek once they reach a door at the end of a long hallway next to the stairs and turns the handle with his now free hand.

He turns around to face Derek. “Mind coming in?” Stiles doesn’t wait for a response and walks backwards into the room.

Derek blindly follows him, still mildly confused what’s happening and still at a loss for words.

Stiles moves his cane behind him until he hits a bed. He moves his hand around on the bed before sitting down and feels around again before he pats the open space next to him.

Derek sits down, making sure not to sit on Starbuck, who’s now awake on Stiles’ bed. She crawls over towards the two of them and rests her head on Stiles’ lap.

“She’s in here because she hates parties. They make her anxious, too.”

Derek stares blankly back at Stiles for a little while, the tightness slowly starting to ease from his chest. He realizes Stiles can’t read whatever his facial expressions are and tries to speak. “I…”

“You don’t have to talk about anything. I didn’t mean to spring some sort of therapy session on you and I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable, I just wanted to get you out of all the noise.”

Derek uncoordinatedly kicks off his shoes and pulls his feet onto the bed to sit cross-legged. He looks around at the décor in the room for a long time before finally catching some of his breath. Before he can find his voice.

“This is your room.”

Stiles, who is gently petting Starbuck, looks up at Derek and smiles. “Such keen observations.”

“No it’s just, you’re so energetic. I’da expected it to be messier.”

Stiles laughs. “If it was messy I’d trip and lose things. It used to be messy, but now I’m so sort of expert organizer. Trust me tomorrow I’ll probably fall over the couch because someone moved it slightly.”

It wasn’t supposed to, but that makes Derek feel guilty. “You should really be out there talking with your friends and not letting anyone move the couch then.” 

“No way dude!” He grabs Derek’s left shoulder and squeezes. “You not having a panic attack is far more important than a bruised knee tomorrow.” 

He smiles at that and, in not-so-Derek fashion, he grabs ahold of Stiles’ hand still on his shoulder and squeezes back. Finally able to truly catch his breath. 

There’s a palpable pause and Derek wants to fill it before slipping back into tightness.

“How, uh. How did you know I was having a panic attack? I didn’t even realize it at first.” Derek moves his hand to rub his own neck.

Stiles takes his hand off of Derek and goes back to petting Starbuck. “Hey, I told you, you don’t have to talk about this with me if you don’t want. I don’t want to put any pressure on you and make whatever you’re feeling worse. I just knew you needed some serious space for a few minutes.”

It is weird, and out of Derek’s normal comfort zone, to talk about this. About his anxiety. It’s barely something he lets himself be aware of, let alone other people. But the more he talks with Stiles, alone in this bedroom, the more he can whatever weight was on his chest lifting. It feels like a conversation he’s supposed to have.

“I promise I don’t mind. It’s just, and not to be ignorant but, you can’t even see me. And you didn’t know I get anxious so….I just wanna know how you knew.”

Stiles makes some sort of half-frown when Derek asks that. “Well, I didn’t have to be blind to feel you shaking next to me, for starters. You weren’t very responsive when I was saying your name and god your hand was clammy when I grabbed it. That’s when I was positive something was up.”

“Ah.” Derek gets all of that. Knows it something that happens to people. He isn’t particularly embarrassed that Stiles caught on, but he hopes know well else noticed him shaking.

“Plus…” Stiles starts. Derek thinks he looks almost timid. “I use to get them a lot when I was younger.” He readjusts his glasses before speaking again. “If you ever need to talk to somebody about them, you know where my room is now.” Stiles gestures with his arms around the room and cracks such a wide smile Derek almost forgets that he just admitted to having some form of anxiety, too. 

“You don’t have them any more then?”

Stiles’ smile shrinks a little, but not completely. “Not so much anymore. Right after my mom died it was almost a nightly thing. Then the whole “cancer and blindness” thing happened and it picked back up. But lately it’s been…good.”

“Good.” Derek says, extremely sincerely. “That’s good.”

Stiles smiles wide again. “Have you just turned this “Not a Derek therapy session” into a “Stiles therapy session?” He hits Derek lightly in the arm. “And in my own home! No but really, I’m good. I just wanted you to be good, too.”

“I’m better now, thanks to you. I just, like you said with Starbuck…” Derek starts petting her head, reaching slightly across Stiles. “It’s parties.”

“You didn’t have to come tonight. Had I known I wouldn’t have been so persistent.”

“You weren’t that persistent.”

Stiles laughs. “Ha, yeah, alright. ‘Persistent’ and ‘annoying’ are like two of my main qualities. Really though, I’m sorry I talked you into coming.”

Derek thinks for a minute before he talks again. “I mean, I wanted to come. I really did. And overall I’m glad I did. You’re friends, well, most of your friends are good people. Even if they do hug me.”

He gives a small shrug. “You eventually get use to the hugging.”

Derek looks around the room again. Trying to find his voice tonight has been an uphill battle. “It’s just, been such a long time since what happened. I figured I’d be better by now. That being around a lot of people could do me some good.”

The way Stiles is looking at him, or really _concentrating_ on him, so intently, even through the glasses, encourages him to keep talking.

“Can I tell you something?”

“Yeah. Yeah of course you can.” Stiles puts his hand back on Derek’s shoulder and he can’t tell how he feels about it.

He lets out a long sigh. “You know how Lia’s not my, actual daughter, and how technically she’s my cousin?” Stiles nods. “Well, why her cousin, right? Like, surely someone in her family has closer ties to her than me?” Derek rolls his eyes to the ceiling. “You literally won’t believe me when I tell you this. It’s just gonna sound like I’m making up sad stories to get sympathy from you or some shit like that.”

“I mean I’m definitely confused and slightly afraid, but I _generally_ believe you, Derek.”

“Alright. Well...” He takes a deep breath. He’s accepted what happened. Has mostly put it behind him. It’s just impossible to find the right words. “Uh, basically our whole family died in a horrible fire during a house party?” He didn’t mean to come out like a question. Derek has so rarely ever had to explain the situation to anyone he doesn’t know how to say it like it’s a fact. 

Derek can see Stiles’ eyebrows rise up past his sunglasses. “Wow.”

“Yeah, I know, it sounds –”

“It sounds like you have the actual most tragic fucking backstory imaginable, is what it sounds like. How….how did you and Malia get out of that? Did you get hurt? Derek oh my god I’m so sorry.”

“It’s, I mean I’ve been dealing with it. And it’s pretty bad but I’m sure other people have it worse. Uh, as far as Lia and I, she was just a baby then and I was taking her for a walk in her stroller to get her to fall asleep. The police report said it was a gas leak. Which, you probably know with your dad being sheriff and all, once it catches there’s no real escaping that. I shouldn’t get so nervous in crowds or at parties, it was a freak accident that shouldn’t ever happen to me again, but I just can’t help it, ya know?” He lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in.

“Derek, you have every right to be anxious. Like, any reason a person has is valid, but you literally have the _most_ valid reason on the planet.” Stiles scrunches up his face a bit. “I’m truly sorry I nagged you into coming.”

Derek half laughs. “If you keep apologizing I’m never telling you things about me again. I told you, I’m glad I came. I need to get to know more people in town. Plus…” He can’t tell why, but he pauses. “This is nice. I wanted to meet your friends. I wanted to spend time with you not on a park bench.”

Stiles grins at that, and right before he’s about to speak there’s a knock on the door. Erica opens it before they respond. _Typical_.

“There you two are! Hey, Der-bear, it’s almost 11:30 and I figured now would be a good time to go get the kids. Sheriff has work in the morning and we _so_ need to do some last minute lesson planning. Well I do at least.” She says everything with an overly flashy smile. 

Derek is about to get up when Stile speaks, playfully. “Erica, we were totally just bonding and you ruined it. Give Derek like, one minute.”

Her face reads somewhere between confusion and amusement. “Alrighty then.” She says as she closes the door.

“Okay.” Stiles turns back to facing Derek. “I have about 800 things I want to say to you right now so I’m giving you the Reader’s Digest version.” There is a split second beat punctuating every sentence out of his mouth. “Sincerely thank you for coming tonight. I wanted you to meet some cool people and I’m glad you did.  
I’m sorry it was a bit too much for you. I wasn’t expecting some sort of damn frat party to happen in my living room.  
Thank you for trusting me with all this deep shit. I’m normally horrible with it, but it means a lot that you feel you can tell me.  
I promise to tell you if I know of anyone who moved my furniture tomorrow cuz I can tell from your shoulder that your hella ripped and can fight them for me.”

Derek lets out an airy laugh. “Ha, alright then, is that it?”

Stiles raises his chin up a bit. “No. Walk me back to Lydia, then go be a kick ass dad and get Lia to sleep.” Stiles extends his hand out toward Derek.

Derek raises an eyebrow he’s well aware Stiles can’t see. “Deal. The least I can do is make sure you don’t trip after you helped me back there.”

“My thoughts exactly.” There’s a very cheeky smile on Stiles’ face. 

Derek grabs Stiles’ hand and slowly makes their way through the house back to the living room. Less people are there than when they went to Stiles’ room, but the house is still rather full. After a couple minutes Derek spots Lydia’s hair and walks them over.

“I’ve been told to deliver him to you.”

Lydia turns around from the make-shift bar to look at Derek and Stiles. “That’s a smart choice.” She reaches out to the hand Derek is holding, so he lets go. “You two haven’t missed too much. I’m pretty sure one of the hockey guys spilled a drink on Jackson, which was hilarious.”

Stiles steps near Lydia and away from Derek. “That’s literally the best thing that could have happened! We basically missed everything.” He smiles toward Derek. “I know I’ve said it like, a thousand times, but thanks for coming. Tell Erica and Boyd goodnight for me on your way back.”

Derek nods and, like usual, feels stupid about it. “Will do. Thanks for inviting me. And it was a pleasure meeting you, Lydia.”

She has a very elegant smile on her face. “Mutual. Good night, Derek.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would apologize for continuously filling Derek's life with tragic backstories but let's be honest that's pretty much what the writers of TW do.  
> Things should be getting hella weird from here on out. Promise. >.-  
> As per usual: [karlarado.tumblr.com?](karlarado.tumblr.com) Would you believe I was going under "bilingualderek" for a while? Cuz I can.


End file.
